Dikshit blames BJP, AAP for sealing, assures solution if Cong forms govt at Centre

Campaigning in North East Delhi areas on Tuesday, Congress candidate Sheila Dikshit blamed the BJP and the AAP for woes of the people hit by sealing drive and promised to stop it if her party comes to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha election.

Saying that she felt the "concern and anxiety" of women, being a mother and a housewife, Dikshit claimed that the sealing and demolition action has "ruined" lakhs of people in the city.

Dikshit, the Delhi Congress president, is pitted against her BJP counterpart and sitting MP Manoj Tiwari and AAP candidate Dilip Pandey, in the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

The BJP and the AAP only shed crocodile tears without taking prompt steps to stop the sealing and demolition drive," she said during her campaigning in Shiv Vihar, Mustafabad, Durgapuri and other parts of the constituency.

The sealing drive was undertaken by BJP-ruled municipal corporations under the direction of a Supreme Court-mandated monitoring committee in 2017, against violations of Delhi's Master Plan. A large number of commercial establishments have faced action under the drive.

The AAP, the BJP and the Congress have indulged in an intense blamegame over the sealing drive. The BJP has been hammered by both the AAP and Congress for failing to stop sealing through an ordinance by its government at the Centre.

The BJP and the Congress have been hitting out at the ruling AAP in Delhi for not being able to pursue the sealing case effectively through its lawyers in the court.

Dikshit hit out at the sitting MP Tiwari, saying he "turned a blind eye", instead of taking up the issue with authorities and finding a solution.

Tiwari had in a dramatic move violated a sealed property in Gokalpur last year, inviting the ire of the Supreme Court. He has been critical of the monitoring committee, charging that "selective action" had been taken during the drive supervised by the panel.

Dikshit, a three-time chief minister of Delhi, assured the people of the constituency that as soon as a Congress government takes charge at the Centre, prompt steps would be taken to stop the sealing and demolition drive.

She also said that small traders and industrial unit owners of the area would not have to live under "perpetual fear" of sealing action and they would be allowed to carry out their livelihood activities without any hurdles.