NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday filed a complaint with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against BJP leader Parvesh Verma, accusing him of distributing cash to women in the runup to the Delhi assembly elections.
“They have only received the complaint. No official assured us of any action…What the ED will do, I can’t say about that…They have given the official receiving of the complaint,” Sanjay Singh told news agency PTI after visiting the ED office.
A political firestorm erupted in the national capital on Wednesday when Parvesh Verma handed out Rs 1,100 to women in the New Delhi constituency, with AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal calling him a “traitor”. Delhi CM Atishi called for Verma’s immediate arrest.
Kejriwal, who is the AAP candidate from the New Delhi assembly constituency, claimed Verma was BJP’s chief ministerial face, and asked Delhiites if they wanted such a CM.
“These people are giving Rs 1,100 to every voter and asking them to vote for their party. Are you helping the needy or openly buying votes? Your father must be ashamed of a traitor son like you,” the former CM posted on X.
Hitting back at Arvind Kejriwal, Parvesh Verma said his initiative was to provide women with Rs 1,100 in financial aid through Rashtriya Swabhiman, an organisation established by his father.
He said, unlike Kejriwal, he was offering “genuine assistance” to people rather than distributing alcohol.
“My father, Dr Sahib Singh Verma, always helped people. I am also helping people. Delhi’s rural areas will never forgive Kejriwal,” he said.
The BJP leader further said: “In the past 11 days, I have seen the agony of women, something Kejriwal did not see in 11 years. They were hassled, I saw their pain. Then I decided that we will give them Rs 1,100 per month. At least I am not distributing liquor as Kejriwal was doing. I’m happy I am helping people.”
Verma, who could be fielded by BJP against Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency, said Rashtriya Swabhiman has been involved in helping people and redeveloped two villages devastated by an earthquake in Gujarat and four villages in Odisha that were destroyed in a cyclone.
The organisation also spent crores of rupees saving the lives of people during the pandemic, providing oxygen concentrators and opening a care centre in west Delhi, Verma added.