Rahul Gandhi should give some tips to 'old friend' Kejriwal: Satish Upadhyay

Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay on Saturday advised Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to give some political tips to his 'old friend' Arvind Kejriwal as both the parties had earlier joined hands to run a government in Delhi.

Upadhyay alleged that Gandhi has now realised the fact that there is dearth of leadership in the Congress in Delhi.

"I think that Rahul Gandhi ji has accepted that the Congress has lost its leadership in Delhi. So, he is searching for his own ground and doing politics by meeting the MCD workers. I think that Rahul Gandhi ji has forgotten that both the Congress and AAP had worked together," said Upadhyay.

"So, he should have taught some governance to the Aam Aadmi Party which is busy fighting. In this fight, Rahul Gandhi is adding fuel to fire. They (AAP) are our friends and you have run a government with them," he added.

The BJP leader also hit back at the Congress vice-president over his 'suit boot' government jibe, saying the ruling dispensation at the Centre is a 'soojh boojh ki sarkar'.

"As far as his 'suit boot' government remark is concerned, I think that the government at the Centre is 'soojh boojh ki sarkar.' The entire nation is watching the work being done by this 'soojh boojh ki sarkar'," he said.

Gandhi, who met the MCD employees outside his 12, Tughlak Lane, residence here earlier this afternoon, said he would always stand up for the poor people of India, who he felt were being suppressed by the 'suit-boot' NDA Government at the Centre and the ruling AAP in Delhi.

Gandhi reiterated that the demands of sanitation workers must be met.

"If BJP says it is the responsibility of AAP and AAP says it is the responsibility of BJP, but I had said that I will stand with them whenever they will need me," Gandhi told the media here.

"I was standing with them yesterday and I am ready to fight for them whenever required. My thinking says that when a state runs, then everyone should walk collectively. Be it rich or poor and I will

promote the same. Wherever the 'suit boot' people or Aam Aadmi members are trying to suppress the poor people, I will stand for them," he added.

The MCD employees handed over a petition to the Congress vice president in which they listed their grievances.

Gandhi spent a considerable amount of time hearing their issues and promised to take steps to resolve them at the earliest.

Gandhi had yesterday joined a striking sanitation workers' dharna outside the East Delhi Municipal Corporation headquarters and slammed both the Delhi Government and the Centre for not solving their problems.

Massive amounts of garbage are piled up in various parts of the city after the sanitation workers in Delhi went on a strike because of non-payment of salaries for the last three months.

Kejriwal had last week said that his government would release Rs. 500 crores to Delhi's civic bodies to clear the pending salaries of MCD workers.

One has to take note of the fact that, even though the Delhi Government is run by the AAP, the control of the municipalities lie with the BJP.