Delhi rains: AAP slams Delhi govt over waterlogging; minister hits back with '12-year loot' barb

New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) The AAP lambasted the BJP government for waterlogging in the national capital following heavy rains on Thursday, as it questioned why the city's roads had turned into "pools" and people were dying.

The opposition party's criticism has sparked a war of words between the ruling BJP and AAP, which was in power in the city till February this year. Waterlogging, an annual issue during the monsoon, was a frequent target of the BJP during the previous AAP government.

While AAP leaders, including former chief minister Atishi, shared visuals of inundated Delhi streets, slamming the government for "lack of preparedness" for the monsoon, Delhi minister Kapil Mishra blamed the AAP for its "12-year loot".

In a letter to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Atishi demanded that PWD minister Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma must be dismissed from the cabinet over a tree fall incident in Kalkaji in which a man was killed and his daughter was seriously injured.

Verma must take moral responsibility, she said. Sharing a video posted by an X user on the Kalkaji incident, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal said, "What condition the BJP people have brought Delhi to in just a few months…" Hitting back, Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra, in a post on X in Hindi, said: "Shameless, indeed! You looted and ruined Delhi for 12 years, then ran off to Punjab — and now you're blaming the BJP over a fallen tree? "Delhi will definitely change, but the audacity to dance around with your own failure's report card — such shamelessness is only possible in AAP!" Mishra said.

Atishi, in her letter to CM Gupta, highlighted multiple incidents that have happened during the course of the monsoon season.

She said, "This is not an 'act of nature' — it is the result of the absolute lack of monsoon-related preparedness by your administration." "Many more people have lost their lives in this year’s rains -- each a preventable tragedy had there been foresight, infrastructure readiness, and decisive governance. Instead, Delhi’s citizens are forced to wade through waterlogged streets, navigate collapsing trees, and live in constant fear during every spell of rain," said the leader of the opposition in Delhi.

Atishi accused the Public Works Department of "failing to fulfil its most basic duty".

"The PWD Minister Parvesh Verma must take moral responsibility and be removed from your Cabinet immediately. Nothing short of this will restore even a shred of public faith. The entire city is looking towards you to take action against those responsible for these deaths,” she said in the letter.

In multiple posts on X, Atishi shared videos of flooded roads and slammed the BJP's "four-engine" government--- a reference to the MCD, the governments in Delhi and Centre, as well as the Lieutenant Governor.

Sharing a video of Chhattarpur in which cars were passing through a waterlogged stretch, Atishi said, "This is the condition of Chhatarpur. In just a short spell of rain, Delhi's roads turn into ponds. Is this the ‘Proper Management’ of Delhi’s Chief Minister @gupta_rekha and PWD Minister @p_sahibsingh?" She also shared videos of Patparganj, Subroto Park and Lutyens' Delhi to highlight the impact of the incessant rainfall on the capital's infrastructure.

AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha alleged that this year, more than two dozen people have lost their lives due to the rains.

"The four-engine BJP government in Delhi has completely failed. Rivers are flowing on the roads, and people are rowing boats in the waterlogged streets. BJP leaders and ministers are busy making reels every day, but no real work is being done. The BJP government hasn’t even bothered to clean the drains," he charged at a press conference.

AAP shared a video of a man rowing a boat in Greater Kailash and sarcastically thanked the chief minister for ensuring that such a thing was accomplished in the national capital. PTI SLB SLB SKY SKY