'Outright dishonest, useless': BJP flays CM Kejriwal for not providing funds for Delhi-Meerut RRTS project

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday flayed Arvind Kejriwal and called him an "outright dishonest and useless" chief minister, alleging that he is only concerned about benefiting his friends in liquor business and using public money for self-promotion and not the welfare of people.

The BJP's attack came a day after the Supreme Court pulled up the Delhi government for not providing funds for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors to Alwar and Panipat and said if the dues were not paid within a week, the funds allocated by the AAP government for advertisements will be transferred to the project.

The apex court said budgetary provision was something which the state government should look into but if such national projects were to be affected and money was spent on advertisements, it would be inclined to direct that those funds be transferred for this project.

Latching on to the top court's observation, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia targeted Kejriwal and said, "The Supreme Court's comment that came yesterday is a matter of concern for every citizen." "It shows that Kejriwal waived Rs 144 crore to benefit his friends in liquor business. He can commit liquor scam of worth thousands of crores of rupees, use Rs 50 crore of public money in building 'Sheesh Mahal' of his dreams which was also a scam, made a budgetary provision of Rs 1,150 crore for self-promotion,” he alleged.

"But when it comes to contributing the (Delhi government's) share of funds for people, the Arvind Kejriwal government gave up, saying they cannot do it...he has come to take care of his friends in liquor business, ‘sheesh mahal’ of his dreams and that public facilities and convenience are not his priority,” Bhatia charged.

The RRTS project entails semi-high speed rail corridors connecting Delhi to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Alwar in Rajasthan, and Panipat in Haryana.

BJP spokesperson said the RRTS is an 82-kilometer corridor being constructed from Delhi to Meerut through which common people would be able to reach Meerut “in 60 minutes from Delhi”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently inaugurated the 17-km first phase of the road project, he said.

"The total outlay for this project is Rs 31,632 crore. The Centre has already released its share Rs 5,867 crore for implementation of the project. The Uttar Pradesh government has also released its share of funds,” the BJP leader said.

But the Delhi government under Kejriwal is yet to provide Rs 1,138 crore for the project, he added.

“We all know Delhi Chief Minister, convenor of the ‘paapi’ (sinister) AAP party, is ‘kattar beimaan’ (outright dishonest). Kejriwal is not just outright dishonest, ineffective and useless chief minister but he also anti-people and a cheat,” Bhatia charged.