Delhi flood politics in spate: BJP’s RP Singh dismisses conspiracy charge, says AAP trying to hide failure

New Delhi [India], July 16 : BJP national spokesperson RP Singh on Sunday came down heavily on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the prevailing flood situation in the national capital, accusing the ruling party of tryng to hide its failure in dealing with the water woes.
This after the AAP accused the NDA regime at the Centre and the BJP-ruled Haryana of hatching a conspiracy to pluge the national capital into a flood crisis by releasing water from the Hathnikund Barrage.
Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Singh said the AAP, instead of pointing fingers at the BJP over the ongoing flood situation in the Capital, should come clean on the 'scam' that happened in the name of Yamuna cleaning.
"They(AAP) are making such unfounded allegations against us in a desperate bid to hide their failure. They were supposed to clean the Yamuna but they did not. If they had ensured proper cleaning of the Yamuna on time, the situation in the national capital wouldn't have come to this. They should talk about the scam that took place in the name of Yamuna cleaning," the BJP leader said.
Singh was respondng to Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Atishi accusing the Haryana government of deliberately releasing water from the Hathinikund barrage to flood the national capital.
"From Hathnikund barrage, water is release to three states — Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The big question that is on eveyone's lips is why was all the water from the Hathnikund barrage released only towards Delhi. Even as the release of water from Haryana saw the Yamuna cross the danger mark and inundate several parts of the national capital, not a single drop of water was diverted to UP. Why? Is it because Haryana government did not want to cause flooding in UP, as it is also a BJP-ruled state? The BJP must answer. Was this a conspiracy against the people of Delhi?" Atishi, also the Delhi Revenue Minister, said.
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who, too, had levelled similar accusations at the BJP earlier, on Saturday questioned the Haryana government over the water not being released to the other states, especially the eastern canal which goes to UP.
“The Hathnikund barrage diverts water to three different canals — eastern canal, western canal and to the Yamuna. The water of the western canal comes to Delhi so they keep releasing water into it and the same with Yamuna. But they are not releasing water into the eastern canal which goes to UP. What is the reason for this? This is a conspiracy against Delhi. The BJP-led central government is conspiring to flood Delhi,” he told ANI.
“It hasn’t rained in Delhi since July 10, but the national capital is still flooded. Water is deliberately being diverted to Delhi,” Bharadwaj added.
Hitting back at the Delhi government, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said that his government is not “blaming” anyone though, it, too, was receiving water from other states.
"We are also receiving water from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh but are not blaming anyone. We are trying to make arrangements (to prevent flooding),” Vij told ANI.
He added that since several districts of Haryana, bordering Delhi, was also grappling with a flood-like situation, after receiving excess water from other states, there was no reason why it would deliberately release water to Delhi.
Meanwhile, the blame game between Delhi and Haryana governments continued over the situation in the national capital, with Haryana Agriculture Minister Jai Parkash Dalal claiming that encroachments and illegal establishments in the National Capital were responsible for the inundation.
“We don't have any dam. The water that comes here automatically flows down to Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, before dropping into the Indian Ocean. The AAP is trying to shirk blame. There was similar increase in the water levels of the Yamuna earlier as well. However, the Yamuna basin was broader then and could hold excess water from other states. However, encroachments and unauthorised construcdtion activity along the banks of the Yamuna led to shrinkage of the basin," the minister told ANI.
“The root cause behind the inundation in Delhi is encroachments,” Dalal added.
Meanwhile, as per Delhi Flood Control Department, the water level in Yamuna was recorded at 206.02 metres at 8 am on Sunday against 207.58 metres on Saturday morning.
The situation of waterlogging in several low lying areas of Delhi, including on roads from Kashmere Gate to Majnu Ka Tila, has improved on Sunday as the water level slowly recedes, it said.