NEW DELHI: The Haryana government will file a case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal over his remark alleging that “poison” was being mixed in the Yamuna, state minister Vipul Goel said on Wednesday.
The case will be registered under the Disaster Management Act in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court in Sonipat.
“Kejriwal has made an irresponsible statement spreading panic among the people of Delhi and Haryana. Haryana government is going to get a case registered against him before CJM Court in Sonipat under the Disaster Management Act’s Sections 2 (D) and 54,” Goel told reporters. The provisions mentioned deal with circulating false alarms that may cause public panic.
Meanwhile, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, amid the allegations, took a sip of water from the Yamuna River in Delhi’s Palla Village.
Goel criticised Kejriwal’s claim, saying, “What kind of water we give them (to Delhi), all our officers have checked the water being supplied.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took a swipe at Kejriwal, saying that “AAP-da people” have become desperate fearing defeat in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. “A former CM has made malicious allegations against the people of Haryana. ‘AAP-da’ people have become desperate due to the fear of defeat,” Modi said at a public meeting in Delhi’s Kartar Nagar.
“Is Haryana different from Delhi? Don’t they have children and relatives in Delhi? Will they mix poison for their own people?” he asked.
Chief minister Saini also dismissed Kejriwal’s allegations as a “political stunt” aimed at influencing voters ahead of the February 5 Delhi polls. He assured that the Haryana government is committed to ensuring clean and uninterrupted water supply to Delhi.
The AAP had earlier accused the BJP-led Haryana government of deliberately releasing industrial waste into the Yamuna. Kejriwal claimed, “BJP people in Haryana are mixing poison in the water and sending it to Delhi. If people in Delhi drink this water, many will die. Can anything be more disgusting than this?”
He further alleged that the contamination was so severe that it could not be treated at water plants, forcing water supply cuts in some parts of Delhi. Delhi chief minister Atishi also accused the BJP of “deliberately disrupting” Delhi’s water supply, claiming that the party was resorting to such tactics as it faced a “historic loss” in the elections.