New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) The ruling BJP MLAs led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta launched a scathing attack on the opposition AAP in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday, citing findings of CAG reports on the city’s finances during the previous Arvind Kejriwal government.
The chief minister hit out, saying AAP, while in power, focused merely on using free water, electricity and bus rides for women for electoral gains and neglected governance and development in Delhi.
She suggested sending the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Finance Accounts of the Delhi government for the year 2023-24, to the Public Accounts Committee of the Assembly. Three reports on Finance Accounts and Appropriation Accounts, as well as Construction workers, were presented in the Assembly by Gupta on August 5.
Protesting vociferously, AAP MLAs interrupted the BJP MLAs, including the CM, during the debate on the reports and also staged walkouts repeatedly. The Speaker also marshalled out AAP MLAs Anil Jha, Jarnail Singh, Kuldeep Kumar and Prem Chauhan for interrupting Gupta’s reply in the House.
“You start shouting when corruption is exposed. You are flustered when the CAG report is debated in the House and find ways to stage walk out,” the Speaker admonished the opposition.
Leader of Opposition and former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi said only the Centre is responsible if the Delhi government’s finances are in poor shape.
“Delhi government’s own revenue receipts rose steadily and were the third highest in the country. Delhi people paid Rs 2.2 lakh crore as Income Tax and GST to the Centre, which gave just Rs 850 crore to Delhi as its share in the central pool,” she claimed.
Atishi alleged that her microphone was switched off when she was speaking. The Speaker refuted her claim, saying she was given extra time to complete her speech, but she was repeating things without focusing on the topic of the debate.
She challenged the ruling BJP to provide Delhi its due share in the central pool of taxes and demand Rs 50,000 crore share in it.
BJP MLAs Raj Kumar Bhatia and Tarvinder Marwah slammed AAP, accusing it of not doing anything in power.
Their party colleague Sanjay Goel said that the CAG report showed imbalances in financial accounting and reduced spending on education and health sectors.
“Despite a huge budget size, departments failed to utilise their allocations. Irregularities were also highlighted in the report as utilisation certificates for expenditure of Rs 3,760 crore were not available,” he said.
AAP MLA Anil Jha hit back at the treasury benches, raising questions over the Rs 1 lakh crore budget announced by the Rekha Gupta government for 2025-26.
BJP MLAs Ashok Goel, Kulwant Rana and Shikha Roy also targeted AAP over the findings of the CAG report on construction workers’ welfare.
“Kejriwal spent money on advertisements but did not care about construction workers. It was not just an administrative oversight but a decline in morality,” Goel said and suggested digitalising the date of registered construction workers and use of a biometric system to ensure welfare measures reach the genuine beneficiaries. PTI SHB VIT VIT AMJ AMJ
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