AAP leaders scuffle with Delhi Police

New Delhi: A heated exchange over "loud DJ music" being played at a Chhath ghat in Chirag Delhi led to a scuffle between the police and AAP leaders who were holding a meeting on the construction of a culvert in the area.

This comes amid a political slugfest between the BJP and AAP over the preparations of Chhath Puja in the national capital. The AAP alleged that BJP supporters were playing loud music to disrupt their meeting.

A panchayat was organised by the residents of Chirag Delhi village on the construction of a culvert on Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land, which was attended by Saurabh Bharadwaj, the Delhi minister's office said.

However, BJP supporters played loud DJ music at a nearby Chhath ghat, which Bharadwaj alleged was an attempt to disrupt the panchayat proceedings. When the AAP leader reached the ghat along with locals to stop the music, there was a heated exchange leading to pushing and shoving between Delhi Police and locals, prompting a substantial police and paramilitary presence in the area, the statement said. The incident follows a previous confrontation in Chirag Delhi over the celebration of Chhath on DDA land, where Bharadwaj and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj clashed in a public war of words. Bhardwaj claimed that for months, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the DDA have been obstructing the progress of the culvert project, accusing the saffron party of aiming to halt development initiatives of the Delhi government.