Arrest Hardeep Puri for having Rohingya infiltrators in Delhi: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday demanded the arrest of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, alleging he has all the data on the places he has made the Rohingya infiltrators settle down in Delhi.

Puri hit back accusing Kejriwal of playing with national security.

The politics over Rohingya immigrants living illegally in Delhi has intensified ahead of Assembly polls with the BJP accusing AAP of helping Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators settle down in the national capital and using them as vote bank in elections. 

The Delhi Police, following directions from Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, has launched a campaign to identify and deport the illegal immigrants.

In a press conference, Kejriwal said, "Arrest Hardeep Puri because he has all the data on where he has made the Rohingya immigrants to settle down in Delhi... He (Puri) has told about this in a tweet (post on X).

"Why are they working so hard and creating drama? Hardeep Puri and Amit Shah have all the data of Rohingyas settled in Delhi," Kejriwal charged when asked about the police drive.

Hitting back, Puri, the Union petroleum and natural gas minister, charged in a post on X that Kejriwal's repeated "support" to the Rohingya infiltrators is like playing with the national security.

He said the whole country knows Rohingyas could be voters of which party and took a dig at Kejriwal saying "inki to fitrat aisi hai ki aisa koi sagaa nahin, jisko Kejriwal ne thagaa nahin (Kejriwal's nature is such that there is no one close to him who he has not cheated)".

The Union minister claimed that no Rohingya infiltrator was ever given any EWS (economically weaker section) flat so far, and asserted that repeating a lie does not turn into truth although it proves one to be a "liar".

"Clarification of the tweet, based on which he is spreading lie, was issued the same day by me and the home ministry. It is in public domain, still its shameless to spread the lie," Puri said.

He also alleged that "Kejriwal's MLA has got Rohingya immigrants settled in Delhi, and provided free ration, water, electricity, Rs 10,000 each and voter cards to them."  The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February. Kejriwal-led AAP has attacked the BJP accusing it of settling the Rohingya infiltrators in the city, and trying to get names of AAP supporters deleted in large numbers from electoral rolls in different constituencies.