Manoj Tiwari slams AAP over deaths of homeless people in Delhi winter

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday attacked the AAP dispensation over a non-profit's report claiming that cold claimed 90 lives in the city in the first 10 days of 2020, saying the government has no right to remain in power.

People are dying, but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) does not talk about it, he said.

Tiwari was speaking at a press conference here.

"According to a report by the Centre for Holistic Development, 90 people died from January 1 to 10. Also, 323 people died due to cold in December, taking the total death toll due to cold in the last 40 days to 413," the Delhi BJP chief said.

While homeless people are dying due to cold, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party leaders are campaigning for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls with the slogan "Achhe Beete Panch Saal, Lage Raho Kejriwal" (The last five years went well, keep going Kejriwal), he said.

Citing the report, the BJP leader claimed that 3,623 homeless people died in Delhi in the last one year.

Tiwari said there is a sense of "hopelessness" in Delhi as people have lost faith in the Kejriwal government.

"People are dying due to cold, but the Aam Aadmi Party does not talk about it. Instead it keeps lying to the people... Such a government has no right to remain in power," he said.

While homeless people are dying in cold, the Kejriwal government has blocked the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, he added.

No immediate response was available from the ruling AAP.

According to General Secretary of Centre for Holistic Development Sunil Kumar Aledia, the report was compiled using information gathered through RTI queries.

"The deaths are very unfortunate. It should not be a political matter and the entire society, including political parties, should immediately get down to stop such deaths," he said.