CM Atishi slams BJP over its slum outreach campaign

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, AAP on Monday accused the saffron party of demolishing slums and deleting names of slum dwellers from electoral rolls.

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 slum dwellers and address their concerns. In a press conference, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi charged that the BJP leaders were visiting the slums, sharing food and clicking pictures with the slum dwellers to show their concern.

"However, I warn the slum dwellers 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 said.

The senior AAP leader also alleged that the BJP leaders go to the slums and then get the names of slum dwellers deleted from voters' lists, citing the example of Shahdara's Ambedkar Basti.

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 slum dwellers to better understand their lives.