Delhi transport department rejects AAP's inquiry claim against CM Atishi

A day after former chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal alleged that central probe agencies were attempting to arrest current Delhi CM Atishi over the free bus rides service for women, the additional chief secretary (ACS) of the Transport Department rejected Kejriwal’s claims, describing them as “misleading” and “misplaced.”

In a public note dated December 26, ACS (Transport) Prashant Goyal mentioned, “My attention is drawn to news reports on TV and social media wherein former CM Kejriwal is seen alleging that an inquiry is being contemplated in the Transport Department implicating your good self in a matter pertaining to free bus rides for women.”

“I would like to place on record that no such inquiry has ever been contemplated by the Transport Department. Also, no communication has been received from the Vigilance Department, GNCTD, in this regard. The aforesaid claim is absolutely misplaced and misleading,” he further mentioned in his note. Additionally, Goyal has sent the letter to CM Atishi and the Chief Secretary-cum-Chief Vigilance Officer.

Kejriwal’s big allegations against the BJP

On Sunday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal made multiple allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including mass alteration of voters’ lists in the Delhi Assembly. Kejriwal said that the BJP has adopted a three-pronged approach to manipulate the voters’ list in the New Delhi Assembly Constituency. He wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) about an ‘unusual spike’ in additions to and deletions from the electoral rolls.

Last week, Kejriwal also alleged that the BJP is misusing central agencies and planning to arrest Atishi. He claimed that the BJP is putting pressure on Delhi’s bureaucrats to act against the AAP government. He further said that the BJP is hatching such conspiracies to distract the AAP from its election campaigning.

The AAP responded on Sunday, stating, “We will continue to thwart every conspiracy of the BJP and ensure that the free bus travel scheme for women in Delhi remains intact at all costs…”

BJP’s reaction to the AAP allegations

Meanwhile, reacting to Kejriwal’s claims, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said on Sunday that the administrative note sent by Delhi ACS Transport to CM Atishi, which mentioned that there was no ongoing investigation against her, had exposed Kejriwal’s false claims.

“For quite some time, we’ve been asserting that the former CM is intimidating and politically misleading his colleagues… It is regrettable that Kejriwal, for his petty politics, first degraded the dignity of the CMO and now dragged the CM into controversial matters,” Sachdeva said.