“Nobody a bigger fraud than Kejriwal, AAP”: BJP leader Poonawalla on Pujari Granthi Samman Yojna

New Delhi [India], December 31 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shehzad Poonawalla on Tuesday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party’s National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, and his party, calling them the “biggest fraud.”

Poonawalla’s comments came in response to the Delhi government’s Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana, which aims to provide financial support to priests and granthis.

Poonawalla pointed out that Delhi government’s RTI records showed that AAP had failed to fulfil its promises of wages to maulvis and imams since January 2021 and May 2022 and accused the AAP of exploiting its own voter base and said that the party had never addressed the needs of granthis and pujaris.

“Nobody is a bigger fraud than Arvind Kejriwal and AAP… Delhi government’s RTI shows that AAP has not fulfilled the promise of wages to maulvis and imams since January 2021 and May 2022… AAP loots their own vote bank and has never mentioned granthis and pujaris once,” the BJP leader said.

Poonawalla questioned why AAP had not implemented such policies already, asking why the party waited until elections were near and urged the government to clear any backlogs as they may not remain in power much longer.

“AAP is in power currently; why not implement these policies already? Why wait for the elections?… They should clear all backlogs because they may not be in power soon,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal, along with his wife Sunita Kejriwal, launched the scheme from the Margahat Baba Temple in Kashmiri Gate. Under the scheme, the priests of temples and the ‘granthis’ of the Gurudwara in Delhi will receive an honorarium of about Rs 18,000 per month.

Additionally, Poonawalla spoke about Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s letter to Delhi CM Atishi, in which Saxena expressed concerns over Kejriwal’s comments calling Atishi a “temporary Chief Minister.”

Poonawalla stated that Kejriwal’s actions were disrespectful to the position of Chief Minister, the constitutional process, and the office of the Lieutenant Governor.

“LG has expressed in the letter that it’s upsetting that Arvind Kejriwal, who is just a common MLA, calls CM Atishi a temporary proxy CM. This is not just disrespect of the CM post but also the constitutional process, the President, and the Dy Governor,” Poonawalla said.

Earlier, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor wrote a letter to Chief Minister Atishi and expressed his disapproval of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal referring to her as a “temporary Chief Minister.”

“I found this very objectionable, and I was hurt by it. It was not only an insult to you, but also to your appointee, the President of India, and to me as her representative… As a Lieutenant Governor, I am concerned about this level of public discourse, and at the same time, I am hurt by the conversation of presenting the full-time Chief Minister of my government as a temporary Chief Minister,” the letter read.

In the letter he criticised Kejriwal’s remark as an affront to “constitutional values and the dignity of the office.