Being hounded for exposing graft: AAP MLAS
nNEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Atishi and Raghav Chadha on Wednesday said the North Delhi municipal body’s Leader of the House, Yogesh Kumar Verma, had issued them defamation notices over a press conference last week during which they questioned the municipal body’s inability to pay salaries of doctors and health workers in Kasturba and Hindu Rao hospitals and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of corruption.
All three municipal corporations in the Capital are ruled by the BJP.
Atishi, AAP’S spokesperson and Kalkaji MLA said, “The BJP has not paid the salaries of doctors of Kasturba and Hindu Rao hospitals in times of the Covid pandemic. The AAP demanded (on July 24) that the BJP should pay the salaries of the doctors within three days, but they did not take cognisance. Now, they are trying to silence our voice with a defamation notice.”
She said, “North MCD house leader and BJP councillor Yogesh Kumar Verma has sent these notices of defamation of Rs 1 crore to both of us. These notices are for raising questions against the BJP’S corruption at the MCDS. They have been exposed. The BJP believes they can intimidate us by sending defamation notices.”
Responding to the allegations, Verma, leader of the House in the north corporation, said AAP had a history of blaming people without proof. “They said the Delhi government released their due funds but the councillors embezzled the amount. This is a lie. We have asked them to prove it but they have no evidence to substantiate their claim. Putting such baseless allegations on councillors is not fair and that is why I have sent them notices. If they do not apologise for these uncalled for remarks, I will drag them to court,” Verma said.
Chadha, AAP’S national spokesperson and Rajendra Nagar MLA, said: “The leader of the House in North MCD has issued both criminal defamation and civil defamation notices against us. This means the BJP has claimed we have disrespected the North MCD. It shows that the BJP‘S intention is to do corruption with the money of people and if you raise a question or expose them, then you will be slapped with defamation notices.”
“I want to remind the BJP that the Aam Aadmi Party is not a political party that will be scared by such arbitrary defamation notices. The Aam Aadmi Party will stand with the people of Delhi and take to the streets against the Bjp-ruled MCDS. We will go door to door and expose the BJP’S corruption. We will fight against the BJP at the courts and also at the streets,” he said.
Verma said the Delhi government had to give ₹1,181 crore to the north civic body but in the last two quarters, it had given only ₹383 crore. “Whatever funds came from the Delhi government were used to pay salaries of our employees. We could pay the salaries to our employees until April. Their salaries of May and June are still pending and so the state government should clear our dues. We have requested the CM to release funds. The AAP leaders (Chadha and Atishi) should come clean on their allegations and produce documents that how much money the government had given to North MCD,” the BJP leader said.
Resident doctors of Hindu Rao and Kasturba hospitals have not been paid salaries for May and June. They had in June threatened to tender mass resignations if their salaries were not released but had withdrawn their threat after the high court had directed the civic body to pay their salaries at the earliest.
In a press conference on July 24, Chadha and Atishi had said AAP would start a protest if the salaries of doctors are not cleared by the North MCD in three days and accused the BJP of corruption in the corporations.
Dr Sunil Kumar, president of the Resident Doctors’ Association of Kasturba Hospital said salaries for two months — June and July — are pending.
Kumar said they get salaries on the 25th of every month and received the salary of May earlier this week. He warned there should be no politics on the matter but a permanent solution should be devised.
“Our salary is pending for two months. This has become a regular scene. The MCD blames the government and they blame the civic body but this blame-game is not the solution. If MCD has no funds, then the government should help them in arranging funds so that doctors, who are risking their lives amid the coronavirus pandemic, do not have to wait for salaries,” Kumar said. He said they would again write to the authorities next month to clear pending salaries.