Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 | AAP, BJP engage in war of words over slum outreach

New Delhi: A day after BJP leaders spent the night in Delhi's slums as part of an outreach programme ahead of the assembly elections, the AAP on Monday accused the saffron party of demolishing slums and deleting names of slumdwellers from electoral rolls.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in a statement asked slumdwellers not to vote for the BJP in the upcoming elections. "They (BJP) will sleep in your jhuggi now and then demolish it after three months,” the former Delhi chief minister alleged.

"It's ironical how BJP leaders are coming and sleeping in jhuggis after spending the last five years meticulously razing down the slums in Delhi," he claimed.

Earlier, in a press conference, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi warned the slumdwellers to be wary of BJP leaders, alleging that the slums they visit are demolished later.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor claimed that the AAP raising "frivolous" issues everyday shows the party has already conceded defeat.

"The allegations against the BJP by AAP supremo Kejriwal and Chief Minister Atishi show that both leaders know that they have lost their vote bank of the slumdwellers," he asserted.

Led by its Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, BJP leaders stayed overnight in 1,194 slum clusters across the national capital to connect with the slumdwellers and address their concerns.

On Monday, CM Atishi said, "...I warn the slumdwellers to be wary of them (BJP leaders) because there are many examples that the slums they visit are demolished, like it happened in Sundar Nagri where they had gone a few months ago." She further said that the BJP leaders go to the slums and then get the names of slumdwellers "deleted" from voters' lists, citing the example of Shahdara's Ambedkar Basti.

The chief minister also alleged that the BJP hates the poor people, claiming that slums were covered on the route of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit of Pusa institute on Sunday.

Ahead of elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly, due in February, the BJP has launched a massive outreach campaign to get a foothold in the city's slums, considered to be strongholds of the ruling AAP.

"BJP leaders are directly communicating with the slumdwellers to better understand their lives. We have learned about their struggles and the upcoming BJP government will work through DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board) to improve their living conditions," Sachdeva said during his stay at Rajiv Camp in east Delhi's Krishna Market.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Kapoor said Atishi holds a constitutional post and very well knows that as per guidelines nearly 500 metres area around any place visited by the prime minister of the country is sanitised and barricaded.

Moreover, Atishi should remember that around 100 metres area around Delhi chief minister's residence too remains sanitised and barricaded, he said.