The face-off between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Delhi government's education model continued on Monday with deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia challenging BJP leader Manoj Tiwari to arrest him or apologise over his recent graft accusation. Tiwari, BJP's Delhi chief and MP from North East Delhi, had alleged that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Sisodia were involved in a `2,000 crore scam in the construction of classrooms, a charge that the deputy chief minister refuted.
"I want to challenge Manoj Tiwari and the BJP. If an accused of `2,000 crore scam is roaming free in Delhi, nothing can be more shameful for you. If Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have committed the scam, arrest them. Either arrest me by the evening or apologise to the public," Sisodia said in a press conference. Sisodia, who is also the Delhi education minister, shared pictures of the Delhi government schools to take a shot on the BJP leader's allegation. Kejriwal also pitched in and extended his support on the micro-blogging site.
"We have realised dreams of poor parents to have their child enrolled in a good school. Earlier 70% kids of Delhi would study in broken classrooms. We improved the conditions of the classrooms," Kejriwal said. Tiwari had earlier said that an RTI revealed that the Delhi government showed an expenditure of `2,900 crore for the construction of 12,500 classrooms that could have been done in `892 crore. "An RTI has revealed that additional `2,000 crore was given for constructions of rooms in schools that could've been constructed in only `892 crore. This is a scam in which the chief minister and the deputy CM are involved," Tiwari said.