NEW DELHI: BJP on Friday made a scathing attack on AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, calling him a big liar who goes back on all his promises, amid an ongoing row between the two parties over freebies. Leading the BJP charge, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi slammed him over his promise of providing free electricity in several states and his tall claims about improving the standard of education in Delhi schools.


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“He's promised free electricity in many states. What has he provided in Delhi? Questions have been raised... if Delhi (govt) schools are functioning well, then why are the children of AAP MLAs not studying there?” Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said.


 



 


Kejriwal has come under heavy attack from BJP leaders over his allegations against the Centre and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that Kejriwal is giving a perverse twist to freebies on Health and Education. "This is to scare the public. We want a debate and discussion on freebies," she said.


Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia earlier launched an attack on Kejriwal alleging that he lied about MNREGA, while also adding that the Aam Aadmi Party chief has "made a record of telling lies".


The BJP spokesperson on Thursday held a press conference to counter the statement made by Kejriwal over Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). "The first lie Arvind Kejriwal said that the amount of MNREGA has been cut by 25 per cent while truth is that this scheme provides 100 days of work to the poor, farmer and labourer. There are no such cuts on this," Bhatia said.


In an additional attack, a BJP spokeperson claimed that Arvind Kejriwal set a new standard for lying. Kejriwal`s Delhi model has failed that`s why he is misleading the public about cutting the MNREGA budget.


By raising its budget and ensuring that every rupee goes directly into the designated account and that there is no corruption, the MNREGA was made more effective, Bhatia said. 


While countering the statement over the MNREGA budget cut, Bhatia claimed that the budget of MNREGA in 2021-22 was 73,000 crores and due to the pandemic, this budget was increased by 25,000 crores to 98,000 crores.


"You (Arvind Kejriwal) made an unscrupulous allegation that till now the Central government used to collect tax and give 42 per cent to the states, for the last few years it has been cut from 13 to 29 per cent. Now let me tell you that the Finance Commission has decided that for five years, it will remain at 42 per cent of all the states," he said. 


On Thursday, Kejriwal slammed the Centre saying that the money collected from taxes is for serving the people of the country and not for waiving loans of politicians` friends.


He held a press conference to counter the statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day.PM Modi said, "Instead of following short-cuts, our government is engaged in permanent solutions to the problems. A lot has been said about the problem of stubble burning over the years. But those with a short-cut mentality could not solve it".


Delhi CM countered by saying, "Never in the past 75 years has the government taxed basic food grains. Tax over petrol and diesel is over Rs 1,000 crore. They`re now saying all free things by the government should end, and fees should be charged in govt schools and hospitals. They`re saying free rations to be stopped."


"It is for the first time in the history of the country that the Centre, justifying their Agnipath Yojna, said they`re doing it so they do not have to pay pensions to defence persons anymore. The Centre has time and again repeated that they don`t have money and has decreased money that was given to states. Tax being collected is much higher as compared to 2014 but they have no money. Where is the money going?" Kejriwal asked.