Blow from Delhi's voters awaits AAP for suppressing CAG reports: Union minister Hardeep Puri

New Delhi: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri flayed the AAP on Monday over the Delhi High Court's observations on its government's failure to place certain CAG reports before the Assembly and asserted that the party will get a blow from the voters in the upcoming polls in the capital for "suppressing" the national auditor's findings.

Hearing a petition filed by some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, the high court said on Monday that the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on the city administration should have promptly been placed before the Assembly for discussions, but the government of the National Capital Territory "dragged its feet", raising "doubts on its bonafides".

"It is crystal clear. You (the AAP government) have delayed (placing the reports before the Assembly)," Puri told PTI when asked for his comments on the court's observations in the matter.

He said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government should have sent the reports to the Assembly speaker and lieutenant governor as soon as it received those, and initiated discussions in the House on the CAG's findings.

The BJP leader said when the CAG takes up "any issue" for auditing, it provides an opportunity to every stakeholder to submit their comments.

"You (the AAP government) comment (on the CAG's observations) and say that it is not right. But they put the report(s) under the carpet," he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the AAP on the BJP leader's charge.

Puri also slammed Arvind Kejriwal over the issue and said the AAP supremo, who had praised the national auditor in 2017 saying the Congress would have sold the country had there not been the CAG, is now "suppressing" its reports.

The Union minister pointed out that the high court has fixed January 16 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

"First, a slap will come from the court. The second slap will come from the poll results," he said, suggesting that the AAP will suffer a setback in the upcoming Delhi Assembly election for allegedly keeping the CAG reports under the carpet so far.

The 70-member Delhi Assembly will go to polls on February 5 and the votes will be counted on February 8.

In the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, the AAP won 67 and 62 seats respectively. The BJP won three seats in 2015 and eight in 2020, while the Congress drew a blank.