Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday hit out at Union minister Harsh Vardhan for calling him an "outsider", saying the people from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana settled here can be outsiders for the saffron party but they are "part of our Delhi family".
Kejriwal was responding to Vardhan's tweet in which the BJP leader questioned the chief minister for calling himself "Delhi's son".
The Union minister said while Kejriwal was born in Hisar in Haryana, he was settled in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. "How can he be Delhi's son?"
"Doctor Sahib, you hate me. You can abuse me. How can you call all those born in UP and Haryana and settled in Delhi outsiders? They may be outsiders to the BJP. But they are part of our Delhi family. We Delhiites adopted them all, made them our family," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
In another tweet, Kejriwal responded to the recent "sting" of the BJP on mohalla clinics, saying the party has again "mocked" the people of Delhi by issuing "fake" videos.
"Delhiites worked hard to build 450 world class mohalla clinics. Mohalla clinics have brightened the name of Delhi all over the world. Today, BJP's lie was caught in a media investigation. People of Delhi are very happy with mohalla clinics," he said, tagging a news report.
At a press conference later, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked if Kejriwal is considered an outsider then from where are Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and his supporters.
"I want to ask Harsh Vardhan who are Manoj Tiwari and his supporters then? Haven't they come from UP, Bihar and taken up residence in Delhi? Why don't you disclose the truth about them? And if you do not consider them to be from Delhi, will you dare to throw them out of the party and Delhi? Don't insult the people of UP, Bihar, Haryana like this," he said.
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People of Delhi are not going to be misled by "your cruel and insulting" statements, said Singh.
He claimed that the BJP is an anti-migrant party and, therefore, they believe that a person from Haryana, UP or Bihar can't become a "son of Delhi".
Vardhan believes Kejriwal who was born in Haryana, lived in UP but settled in Delhi and then served Delhi as the CM for 5 years, cannot be a son of Delhi.
He also said that with such a mindset, the BJP is insulting the people of Haryana, UP and Bihar, who live and work in Delhi and contribute to the economy of the state.
"I want to request all migrants from UP, Bihar and Haryana to carefully note this statement by Harsh Vardhan and BJP and be aware that this is how they actually think, deep within.
"In other states, they have thrashed migrants and forced them to flee.
Though you may work hard for the development of Delhi, the BJP and its leaders will never consider you Delhi's son or daughter and will always think of you as Delhi's enemies," Singh said.
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