Union minister Vijay Goel on Sunday staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar to “caution” people against the “falsehood” being spread by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress.

Goel said that the two parties, in the past, were involved in trading corruption barbs at each other, but are now desperate to join hands to win the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

South Delhi member of Parliament (MP) Ramesh Bidhuri, West Delhi MP Pravesh Varma, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators Om Prakash Sharma, Jagdish Pradhan and Manjinder Singh Sirsa also took part in the protest.

The AAP and the Congress in Delhi have been in talks of a possible seat-sharing arrangement, but the deal is yet to be finalised. The final call on the alliance, however, will be taken by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in the coming days.

“The AAP and the Congress are trying to forge an unholy alliance in their lust for power. It is fate that the Delhi Congress president is now Sheila Dikshit, who was promised to be sent to jail on corruption charges by Arvind Kejriwal. These two parties think that the Delhi public is ignorant, as if the public does not understand their tactics,” Goel said during the protest.

The BJP leader also said that former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Ajay Maken, who accused half the ministers and MLAs of the AAP government of corruption and opposed an alliance with the AAP, has also started changing his views.

Two billboards were put up at the protest site — one reflecting the accusations of the Congress against the AAP and the other highlighting the allegations of the AAP against the Congress.

Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitender Kochar said that they have never shown any interest in an alliance with the AAP.

“The AAP leaders are announcing an alliance and dissolving it too. We have stuck to our stand that we do not want any seat-sharing arrangement with them. The AAP and the BJP is trying to gain mileage from this,” Kochar said.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP’s national spokesperson, said, “Aam Aadmi Party feels blessed that Vijay Goel and Sheila Dikshit are back in Delhi politics. They make it an interesting and entertaining contest for Delhiites to chose among Dikshit, Vijay Goel and Arvind Kejriwal. They themselves know who represents the voice of Delhi. Vijay Goel has forgotten that it’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi who snatched the ACB from Kejriwal government. Goel declares MCD is ‘chor’ but is too helpless despite being a central minister. This explains all.”

Staging a dharna at Jantar Mantar on Sunday to “caution” the people of Delhi against the “falsehoods” being spread by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, Union Minister and former Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel said that both the “corrupt” parties were trying to forge an “unholy alliance” in their “lust for power”.

“We can all imagine what will happen in Delhi if in their craving for power these two corrupt parties [AAP and Congress] join hands in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled to be held in the latter part of the year. These two parties were involved in trading corruption barbs at each other and are now desperate to join hands to win two seats in Delhi,” Mr. Goel said.

“Rahul Gandhi has forgotten the insult of his late father Rajiv Gandhi meted out by AAP on the floor of the Delhi Assembly by passing a resolution of stripping former Pime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of the Bharat Ratna,” said Mr. Goel. He also said that he wondered how Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit, who was promised to be sent to jail on corruption charges by Arvind Kejriwal, could forget that insult so quickly.

इसके बाद लोगों ने कई मुद्दों पर सवाल-जवाब भी किए। इस दौरान गोयल ने मीटिंग के लिए कॉलोनियों की जगह पार्कों को सबसे अच्छी जगह बताते हुए कहा कि पहले शीला दीक्षित और केजरीवाल का भ्रष्टाचार चरम सीमा पर है। उन्होंने कहा कि एमसीडी के भ्रष्टाचार को भी हमें खत्म करना है, अधिकारियों की मिलीभगत से लगातार अवैध निर्माण होते हैं और आम जनता को परेशान किया जा रहा है।

जहां भी भ्रष्टाचार हैं उसके खिलाफ मैं आवाज उठाऊंगा। वहीं इस मुद़्दे पर आप के वरिष्ठ नेता मनीष सिसोदिया ने टवीट कर गोयल से पूछा 'सर आप दिल्ली एमसीडी के अफसरों को चोर कह रहे हैं।

सत्ता की लालच में कांग्रेस व आप गठबंधन करने जा रही है। सत्ता के लिए दोनों भ्रष्ट दल गठबंधन करने को आतुर हैं। पिछले सभी चुनावों में दोनों दल एक दूसरे पर आरोप मढ़ रहे थे, आज साथ-साथ चलने को तैयार हैं। यह बातें केंद्रीय राज्य मंत्री विजय गोयल ने कहीं। गोयल दिल्ली के जंतर मंतर पर आयोजित धरने को संबोधित कर रहे थे।

गोयल ने कहा वो दिल्ली की जनता को सावधान करने के लिए वह जंतर-मंतर पर धरना दे रहे हैं। महा-मिलावटी गठबंधन करार देते हुए उन्होंने इसके झांसे में नहीं आने की अपील की। गोयल ने कहा कि सत्ता के लिए कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष राहुल गांधी अपने पिता राजीव गांधी का अपमान भी भूल रहे है। दिल्ली के मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल ने दिल्ली विधान सभा में प्रस्ताव पारित करके पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री राजीव गांधी का भारत रत्न सम्मान वापस लेना चाह रही थी। प्रदेश कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष शीला दीक्षित को मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल भ्रष्टाचार के आरोप में जेल भेजने की बात करते रहे है। यह अपमान भी प्रदेश संगठन भूल गया। 

गोयल ने कहा कि अजय माकन कल तक आम आदमी पार्टी के मंत्रियों और विधायकों को भ्रष्ट कह रहे थे। अब उन्हीं के साथ गठबंधन करने को आतुर दिखाई पड़ रहे है। दोनों दल सत्ता के लालच में एक-दूसरे को माफ करें, लेकिन दिल्ली की जनता इनको कभी माफ नहीं करेगी। जंतर मंतर स्थित धरना स्थल पर दोनों तरफ दो बड़े-बड़े बोर्ड लगाए गए थे। एक बोर्ड में आम आदमी पार्टी ने जो भ्रष्टाचार के आरोप कांग्रेस पर लगाए हैं वो लिखा था तो दूसरे बोर्ड पर कांग्रेस ने जो आम आदमी पार्टी पर भ्रष्टाचार के आरोप लगाया था वह लिखा था। धरने में बोल शीला बोल संगम होगा कि नहीं वाले गाने भी बजाए जा रहे थे। धरने में विधायक ओम प्रकाश शर्मा, जगदीश प्रधान समेत कई कार्यकर्ता उपस्थित थे। 

Air pollution would be the bigger issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls than the demand for statehood for Delhi, said Union Minister and BJP leader Vijay Goel here on Friday.

According to Mr. Goel, PM2.5 and PM10 levels in Delhi had crossed the mark of 400, yet funds of ₹1,200 crore meant for a “clean environment” are “lying idle” with the government.

To highlight the pollution issues, Mr. Goel had taken out a 7 km cycle rally from east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar on Friday with scores of party workers. Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Mr. Goel said he would hold morning meetings at local parks with Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in furtherance of the cause.

10,000 die every year

“According to a study, 10,000 people die every year in Delhi alone and the city ranks first among the 1,600 polluted cities in the world. Instead of the demand for full statehood, rising pollution in the Capital should be the major issue in the upcoming polls,” Mr. Goel said.

“I will hold cycle rallies and park meetings to inform the common people about how Mr. Kejriwal had left them to die due to pollution by taking no remedial action in this regard… pollution is the real issue in Delhi; full statehood is just an eyewash by Mr. Kejriwal as he was unable to deliver on his promises,” the BJP leader alleged.

Mr. Goel argued that executive powers regarding issues falling under departments like environment, education, transport, and unauthorised colonies were vested with the Delhi government. “If Mr. Kejriwal could not deliver in these areas, why should he be given powers of full statehood?” he asked. “Be it industrial smog, vehicles or road dust, Mr. Kejriwal had failed to act on these major contributors of pollution. He could not hoodwink the people by implementing the odd-even scheme which anyway failed to make an impact,” he added.