BJP writes to Prez for penal action against Diskhit in PRC case

BJP today urged President Pranab Mukherjee to direct "penal action" against Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit for allegedly misleading residents of unauthorised colonies by granting provisional regularisation certificates (PRC) in 2008.

BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, Delhi BJP Chief Vijay Goel and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly V K Malhotra today wrote a letter to Mukherjee asking him to direct the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to initiate action immediately.

The development comes after former Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin, on his last day in office, recommended that the President issue an advisory to Dikshit asking her to shun populist measures like issuance of PRC in 2008 on the eve of election.

"We have asked the President that it is a serious issue as the government or people holding public office should not be allowed to mislead the people with such schemes, which is in violation of 2006 Supreme Court verdict on regularisation of unauthorised colonies," Harsh Vardhan told reporters.

Harsh Vardhan had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta in 2010.

"If their intention was to regularise the colonies and they had issued provisional certificates, then why have they not regularised them yet. It clearly shows that they had no such intentions," he said.

The BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate said people in unauthorised colonies were living without basic civic amenities.

Senior BJP leader V K Malhotra, while addressing the media, termed the issuance of PRCs as a fraud. "A number of non-existant colonies were included while existing colonies were left out. This is a multi-crore scam," he alleged.

With his party trying hard to woo Poorvanchalis, people from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Malhotra alleged that the Delhi government had turned Yamuna into a drain and people will find it difficult to perform Chhath pooja while standing in its waters.

Malhotra also attacked Aam Aadmi Party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal for meeting controversial Muslim cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan in Lucknow.

He also rubbished the opinion polls that projected Kejriwal as a potential threat to the Congress and the BJP and a preferential chief ministerial candidate.