Politics on the odd-even car rationing scheme has heated up, as a war of words began a day after senior BJP leader Vijay Goel announced that he will break the rule on Monday, Delhi chief minister Arvi
Politics on the odd-even car rationing scheme has heated up, as a war of words began a day after senior BJP leader Vijay Goel announced that he will break the rule on Monday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the BJP and the RSS want the measure to fail but it’s going to backfire on them.
Monday will be the real test of the public transport arrangements in the city when schools and offices reopen after an extended weekend, and taxis and autos going off the roads, which can spell hardship for commuters.
“The BJP appeals to people to break odd-even. BJP auto union calls strike. In Jan too, BJP tried to fail odd-even by orchestrating officers’ strike. Ppl failed BJP and made odd-even success.”
“RSS and BJP want odd-even to fail but Delhi will fail BJP yet again. Media has portrayed BJP’s mischiefs as politics between it and AAP. Have the guts to call out their wrongs,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted.
The second phase of the road-rationing experiment returned to the city on Friday after a gap of two-and-a-half months amid a heightened crackdown on violators as opposed to stress on voluntary compliance seen during the first phase.
Mr Kejriwal also referred to Mr Goel’s assertion that he will violate the rule on Monday as a mark of protest against the scheme, alleging it was a “publicity stunt” by the AAP chief.
Mr Goel on Saturday said that his statement clearly states that his protest is against the “political posturing” by the AAP which is using the odd-even scheme’s publicly-funded advertising budget to plaster Mr Kejriwal’s photo everywhere.
“I am saddened by the fact that instead of answering my questions, the chief minister’s reply via a tweet misrepresented my statement and falsely claimed that my party and me are against the scheme. In fact, my statement mentioned that if it is being stated that the scheme was a success in its first phase then the Delhi government should make it permanent. But, instead, the AAP will play this ludo game every 15 days and get an opportunity for publicity,” Mr Goel said.
AAP leader Ashutosh claimed that the strike threat has been made at the “behest” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the traffic-rationing initiative does not succeed.
“The BJP auto union and (BJP MP) Vijay Goel want the popular odd-even scheme to fail, at the behest of Modiji,” Mr Ashutosh said. Delhi culture minister Kapil Mishra said the BJP will get a “tight slap” on Monday morning for trying to fail the odd-even scheme. “Despite the conspiracy, falsehood and lies spread by the BJP, on Monday morning Delhi will give a tight slap to the BJP which is trying all dirty tricks to fail odd-even,” Mishra said.
Rajendra Soni, general secretary of both the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and the Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, had said that auto and black-yellow taxis will not ply on the capital’s roads on Monday to protest against app-based cab services.
