Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal on Wednesday accused the Delhi BJP of "pressuring its party-run SDMC" to "not issue the advisory banning cross gender massages" in spas.
Delhi BJP Manoj Tiwari rubbished Maliwal's allegations as an "election" stunt and added that he will react to her allegations after going through details of the matter.
Leader of House in SDMC Kamlajeet Sehrawat, when contacted, rejected reports of any senior BJP leader contacting her on the issue.
Citing media reports that after the intervention of some senior leaders of Delhi BJP, South Delhi Municipal Corporation is not issuing this advisory, she asked five questions from the party leadership.
"Name the leader who is troubled by the proceedings on the spa. How many spas does the leader of BJP Delhi have?
"Does BJP Delhi get its funding from these spas? Does BJP want to make Delhi Bangkok? Which BJP leader got a call from a big spa owner?" she asked.
Maliwal demanded that the role of the political party should be looked into and said she has already issued summons to the commissioners of the three municipal bodies asking them to appear before the panel on September 20.
More From This Section
However, Sehrawat rubbished the media reports.
"We are still where we were earlier, and the stand is that soon we will issue the advisory on the new norms for operating spas and massage parlours," she said.
The former South Delhi mayor also alleged that the DCW chief was "creating an unnecessary hype about the issue".
"We are acting as per feedback received from people and our aim is to not create any hurdle for those who are doing such businesses with integrity, but to target actually those standalone proprietors who are carrying out immoral activities in the garb of running spas and parlours," Sehrawat said.
"It's an election stunt by Swati Maliwal and her Aam Aadmi Party," Tiwari said.
"Why did not she raise the matter in the last five years and now levelling these allegations as Assembly elections in Delhi are nearing," he asked.
Delhi BJP Media incharge Pratyush Kanth said the party will not allow any "dubious" spa to operate in the city.
It is of prime importance to us to ensure that there are no health hazards, cleanliness issues, or violation of any civic rules by the spas, Kanth said.
"The AAP has no business to tell us how to govern and take care of health issues of people of the city. In 55 months, they have ruined transportation, created drinking water crisis and the health services are crumbling in the city, and still they are trying to teach us how to regulate the spas in the city," he alleged.
The BJP-led SDMC on Monday decided that it will soon change its policy on operation of spas and massage parlours, which will also include a ban on massage service offered by a person of the opposite gender.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
