Row erupts over video of BJP MLA threatening to ‘demolish market’ over attendance at event; unable to gather crowds, slams AAP

At a press conference, AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj while sharing the purported video of Chauhan addressing the public, slammed the BJP. “The anger of Delhi’s people against the BJP has become so intense that the BJP is unable to gather crowds at rallies or sit-ins,” Bharadwaj said.

“In the video, the MLA swears by ‘Baba’ that if every child of the market does not attend the inauguration, he will finish the market. They even want children to attend, not just adults. I believe the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights should file a case, because this directly involves mobilising children for political sloganeering,” Bharadwaj said.

However, Chauhan denied the allegation. “I did not say give any such statement. Bharadwaj and his team are lying because they are jobless and have nothing to do…there is no function or inauguration upcoming in my area. It was not a rally, I was talking in a meeting of our community,” the MLA said.

Hitting out at AAP, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, “If only Saurabh Bharadwaj remembered, before making baseless claims, that Rajkumar Chauhan is so popular among the Dalit community that the possibility of his candidacy from BJP forced AAP MLA Rakhi Birla to flee the Mongolpuri constituency she held.”