Purvanchal issue becomes poll flashpoint

BJP targets Kejriwal for 'disparaging' remarks on people from UP and Bihar; AAP convener junks charge and claims his opponents have never done anything for the community

- Alok KN Mishra

NEW DELHI: The fight for the "Purvanchali" vote in Delhi gathered momentum with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacking former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal for his comments on people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar the previous day, and Kejriwal hitting back by claiming that the BJP was getting Purvanchali and Dalit names deleted from electoral rolls on the pretext of getting the names of Rohingya refugees deleted.

Political parties believe that Purvanchalis—they account for about a sixth of Delhi's population—and have the ability to influence the outcome in at least 20 of the UT's 70 assembly seats.

The slugfest began when Kejriwal and Delhi CM Atishi went to the Election Commission on Thursday regarding deletions and additions to the voter list in the New Delhi assembly constituency from where Kejriwal is contesting. "All those, on whose names applications were filed to remove their votes, denied that they never filed any such application. This means there is a big fraud going on. Obviously, they are bringing people from UP (Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar to create fake votes," PTI quoted Kejriwal as saying.

On Friday, the BJP launched a multipronged attack with BJP national president JP Nadda claiming that Kejriwal "insulted our people from UP and Bihar by calling them fake voters". UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath added: "The people of UP, Bihar who live in Delhi have the same rights as Kejriwal. The lotus will bloom this time in Delhi."

Meanwhile, Dinesh Pratap Singh, vice-president of Delhi BJP, and Santosh Ojha, the head of the party's Purvanchal cell, led a protest outside Kejriwal's house in central Delhi. Some of the protestors were detained and taken to the Mandir Marg police station. BJP MP and its popular Purvanchali face Manoj Tiwari also went to the police station after this.