BJP, Centre solely responsible for carrying out sealing drive in Delhi: AAP candidate

AAP's Lok Sabha candidate Brajesh Goyal Thursday said neither the BJP nor the central government can shrug off its responsibility for carrying out the sealing drive in Delhi in 2017 and asserted that the saffron party was solely responsible for the sufferings of traders in the city.

Rebutting claims of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who on Wednesday said the Centre and the civic bodies had nothing to do with the sealing drive as it was done on the instructions of a Supreme Court appointed panel, he said if the government had the intention, they could have brought ordinance to stop the drive.

Goyal, who is contesting from New Delhi constituency, said that the BJP -which is both at the Centre and in MCDs- was solely responsible for the sealing of over 20,000 properties in the capital because of which small businessmen are suffering.

Goyal, who is also the convenor of AAP's trade and industry wing in Delhi, said that the statement of Puri has hurt the sentiments of traders and industrialists and they have decided to teach BJP a lesson this time by not voting it to power.

De-sealing properties and putting a stop on the drive is one of the agendas of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has promised traders and shop owners in its manifesto that all sealed shops will be opened once it comes to power.

Criticising Puri, Goyal told reporters, "He made a statement that the Centre and the BJP have nothing to do with sealing. Neither the BJP nor the central government can shrug off its responsibility of carrying out the sealing drive.

"The BJP, central government and Hardeep Puri are wholly and solely responsible for it. If the government had the intention, they could have brought ordinance to stop the sealing drive."