BJP has stooped to dirty politics in fear of losing elections: AAP on temporary suspension of pilgrimage scheme

The AAP on Wednesday accused the BJP-led Centre for temporarily suspending its free pilgrimage package scheme, saying "rarely" has a party stooped to such "dirty politics" in fear of losing elections.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said the 'Mukhyamantri Teertha Yatra' scheme for senior citizens of the city has been suspended for the time being as the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for "reasons best known to it" conveyed to the Delhi government that rakes were not available.

The AAP government has claimed that the IRCTC has cancelled trains for December 10 onward trips.

There is no big festival or natural calamity at this time. Hence, "we are unable to understand why such a sudden decision was taken by the Centre to divert all our trains", senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said.

He claimed the Centre's decision shows that the BJP has turned to desperate measures in fear of losing the Delhi assembly elections.

Polls in the national capital are due earlier next year.

"The BJP shall have to face the curse of thousands of senior citizens, and this will become one of the reasons for its defeat in the upcoming elections," Rai said.

"Rarely in the history of this country has any party stooped to such dirty politics in fear of losing elections," he said.

Currently, there are 12 routes, including Delhi to Ajmer, Delhi to Vaishno Devi, Delhi to Rameswaram, Delhi to Tirupati, Delhi to Dwarkadhish, Delhi to Jagannathpuri, Delhi to Shirdi, Delhi to Ujjain, Delhi to Bodh Gaya, Delhi to Mathura and Delhi to Haridwar, Rai said.

So far, 2,366 elders have enrolled for Delhi to Ajmer, 4,677 for Delhi to Amritsar, 4,987 for Delhi to Vaishno Devi and 20,558 for Delhi to Rameswaram, he said.

The trains were cancelled after issuing 3,000 tickets, the AAP leader claimed.

He said the IRCTC has already issued 1,000 tickets each for the train going to Rameswaram on December 10, the train for Dwarkadhish on December 11 and for the train Rameswaram on December 14.

"We have already delivered the tickets to the pilgrims but suddenly all the trains were cancelled by the central government," Rai said.

He further said that the IRCTC issued a confirmation letter to the Delhi government on November 22 for all the upcoming trips from December 1 to January 28. The city government also sent an acceptance letter to the IRCTC on November 28, Rai said.

"What are the reasons that the BJP-ruled Centre has cancelled the pre-booked trains for the senior citizens?" he asked.

"Where will the four special trains, booked for Delhi's senior citizens, be diverted to from December 10th? If the trains were unavailable, then why did the Centre sent the approval letter to the Delhi govt on November 22?" He said