AAP Accuses BJP of Fuel Ban Scam to Benefit Auto Tycoons
By : Krishna Mishra
Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Delhi President Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Delhi government, claiming its role in "orchestrating" the fuel ban on old vehicles to favour automobile tycoons.
What began as a policy stunt has ballooned into a full-blown crisis, dragging multiple neighbouring cities into chaos and placing two crore vehicle owners under siege. Saurabh Bharadwaj denounced the farce as a reckless betrayal, crafted in collusion, defended with lies, and destined to collapse under the weight of its own hypocrisy," Bharadwaj said in a press statement.
While addressing a press conference, Bharadwaj accused the BJP government in Delhi of "relentlessly lying" to the people.
To cover one lie, they are now forced to tell a hundred more. They're now caught in this web of deception, every lie they tell demands a hundred new ones to keep it hidden. On March 1, their government had barely completed a week when BJP Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa publicly announced that from March 31 onwards, old vehicles would no longer be provided with petrol. But by March 31, they weren't ready. So they pushed the deadline to June 30 and said that post-June 30, petrol and diesel would no longer be supplied to old vehicles. They made loud public declarations," he added.
Highlighting the public backlash against the Delhi government, Bharadwaj said that the BJP's supporters criticised them over this decision, along with others.
Soon, people of Delhi began cursing them, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Even their own supporters slammed them. When we held a press conference on the issue, the BJP government responded with more lies, claiming this was all due to High Court, Supreme Court, NGT, and Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) orders," the AAP leader said.
Calling out inconsistencies in the timeline and justification, Bharadwaj revealed that the CAQM's letter is dated April 23, whereas Manjinder Singh Sirsa had made his announcement on March 1.