The Delhi unit of the BJP took a leaf out of the playbook of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by alleging that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, were involved in a scam over the construction of classrooms.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Delhi BJP chief and MP for North East Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, suggested that the AAP government may have overpaid for the construction of classrooms and that many of those contracts had been given to the relatives of AAP leaders. Addressing the event along with him were fellow Delhi MPs Hans Raj Hans and Parvesh Sahib Singh.
"The Delhi government is building a 300 square foot room for 24.86 lakh rupees. That is 12,782 classrooms for 2,892 crore rupees. This could have been done for at most 800 crore. This is a scam of 2000 crore rupees," Tiwari said.
"Wherever you go to buy a house, it will cost you at least 1500 rupees per square foot. But the Kejriwal government is building these classrooms at 8,800 rupees per square foot," Tiwari told reporters.
"According to the information we have gathered, the 34 contractors who have been given this project include their associates and relatives," he added.
He also said the Delhi unit of the BJP would hand over proof of the scam to the same Lok Pal that Arvind Kejriwal made his political career off. Tiwari also demanded that Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio in the Kejriwal government, resign immediately.
With the Delhi Assembly elections just months away, the BJP is taking a shot at the classroom project, which the AAP has been among the key focus areas for the Kejriwal government. The AAP has repeatedly touted its construction of classrooms as a key achievement, even as it acknowledged that there was a shortage of about 45,000 teachers.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections as well, the AAP had appealed for votes on the basis of its work on constructing the classrooms and for its claimed improvement in the delivery of health services. However, the party had lost in all seven of Delhi's Lok Sabha constituencies, and placed second in only one.
