"Rise above petty interests": Delhi LG writes to CM Atishi

New Delhi [India], January 28 : Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Tuesday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Atishi to express his objections against the "poisoned water" remarks made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal, labelling them as "false, misleading and fact less".
The LG further advised Chief Minister Atishi to rise above petty interests for the public welfare and peace.
In the letter, LG Saxena said that the allegations levelled by Kejriwal regarding the "poisoning" of Yamuna water and "genocide" against Delhi residents were an attempt to provoke the public.
"An attempt to provoke the public by making false, misleading and fact-less allegations like poisoning and genocide on another state government on a sensitive issue like drinking water is a threat not only to the states but also to national peace and security. I hope that as an educated, enlightened and sensitive woman and the Chief Minister of Delhi, you will rise above petty interests and will not say such misleading, dangerous and baseless things in the interest of public welfare and peace and will also advise your leader not to do so," the letter read.
"Arvind Kejriwal has accused the Haryana government of poisoning the Yamuna river and attempting mass genocide in Delhi. This is extremely objectionable, unfortunate and undesirable. This blatantly false statement has the potential to not only create confusion and fear among the people of Delhi but it can also create extreme hostility between the two neighbouring states," LG said in his letter.
This comes after Kejriwal on Monday levelled serious allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party, stating that the BJP-ruled Haryana government has "poisoned" the Yamuna water supplied to Delhi so that "people die" and the blame comes on the AAP.
"If this water would have entered Delhi only to be mixed with the drinking water, many people would have died in Delhi. It would have caused mass genocide," Kejriwal had alleged.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked Kejriwal to provide factual evidence to substantiate his serious allegations that the river Yamuna was poisoned by the neighbouring Haryana state.
The commission has directed Kejriwal to furnish his response to the complaints, especially on the factual and legal matrix along with evidentiary support thereof by 8:00 PM on January 29, so as to enable the commission to examine the matter and take action as appropriate.
The Delhi Assembly elections will take place in a single phase on February 5, with the counting of votes set for February 8. A total of 699 candidates are competing for the 70 assembly seats in Delhi.
The Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and failed to win any seats. In contrast, AAP dominated the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections, winning 67 and 62 seats, respectively, out of a total of 70 seats, while BJP secured only three and eight seats in these elections.