‘When will you take a dip?’: Rahul Gandhi slams Arvind Kejriwal over Yamuna pollution row

At the public meeting of the Congress Thursday in Badli constituency ahead of the February 5 Assembly elections, Gandhi lashed out at Kejriwal over his five-year-old promise of making Yamuna water potable. He also slammed Kejriwal’s press conference, calling it a reflection of his “hollowness.”

The AAP convener on Thursday claimed that for the past several days, water with extremely dangerous ammonia levels has been flowing into the Yamuna from Haryana. “When CM Atishi called her Haryana counterpart, urging him to stop sending this toxic water, he did nothing,” Kejriwal alleged.

Rahul Gandhi accused Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia of corruption, alleging they made false promises to the people. “They made false promises. Five years ago, Kejriwal said I will bathe in Yamuna and drink its water. I challenge him, leave alone Yamuna water, drink the water that people are getting here (in Badli).”

“The person who had said ‘I will remove corruption, will bathe in Yamuna, will drink Yamuna water’, that same person carried out the biggest liquor scam,” Gandhi said.

Not much difference between Modi and Kejriwal, says Rahul Gandhi

At the meeting Gandhi said, “He (Kejriwal) speaks lies one after another just like Modi, there is no difference. There is only one thing, probably Kejriwal is even more ‘chalaak (cunning)’ than even Modi. So, you must not forget who stands with you, who protects the Constitution and who speaks the truth.”

“It is a battle of ideologies. On one side there is the BJP and RSS and on the other, there is the Congress. They (BJP and RSS) spread hatred, violence and fear among people. We have said clearly wherever they spread hatred, we will open ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan‘,” Gandhi said.

The Congress MP alleged the BJP spreads violence and hatred. When people got killed in riots, Kejriwal and his party people did not stand with those affected, Gandhi claimed.

“One ideology works to protect the Constitution and the other wants to finish it off. Mahatma Gandhi was killed on this day (October 30, 1948) because he was fighting hatred, he was uniting Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs, and protecting Dalits. Who killed him? The same people whose ideology is burning the country today,” the Congress MP said.

Earlier in the day, at an interaction with Dalit influencers, the Congress leader slammed Kejriwal, saying he is a “sophisticated version of Modi”. He added, “Both of them speak hollow words, both of them speak one lie after another, both are anti-reservation and anti-Dalit, both do not want Bahujan participation and both of them want to keep the power in their own hands.”

Kejriwal allowed Yamuna to get polluted, forced Delhiites to drink its water, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah alleged that Kejriwal allowed the Yamuna river to get polluted and forced the people of Delhi to drink its water.

With people asking what happened to fulfilling his promise of making the Yamuna clean like the Thames river in London, Kejriwal is making an “excuse” by falsely accusing the BJP government in Haryana of mixing poison in the river, Shah alleged while addressing a public meeting in the Rohini Assembly constituency.

He termed Kejriwal’s accusation against the Haryana government “petty politics” and alleged the AAP government could not fulfil Kejriwal’s promise of cleaning the Yamuna during its 10-year rule due to “corruption”.

“Kejriwal says people from the BJP have mixed poison in the Yamuna to trouble the people of Delhi. I have come to tell Kejriwal that he should stop telling lies to win the election,” Shah said at the rally.

“Kejriwal, you polluted Yamuna and forced the people of Delhi to drink its water. And you offered all the money meant to be used in the cleaning of the river to AAP’s corruption,” he charged.

The AAP means “lies and deception”, he said, alleging that its government failed to fulfil any of its promises. Kejriwal made entire Delhi a “kind of dustbin” during the 10-year rule of AAP, the senior BJP leader added.

(With inputs from PTI)

From the homepage

Bihar SIR: Voter list shrinks by 6% after 3-month revision, about 68.5 lakh names deleted

Stalin’s caution in sparing Vijay backfires, actor issues challenge to CM: ‘Do whatever you want to do with me’

‘Had two options before me after winning elections…’: Omar says he would rather resign than get statehood with BJP as ally