AAP, BJP lock horns over deletion of Bania votes

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) locked horns over alleged mass deletion of Bania votes in Delhi, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that the traders community would not vote for ruling party at the Centre.

With the AAP alleging deletion of eight lakh trader votes in Delhi, union minister Vijay Goel tweeted, saying the AAP was fooling them.

"The Banias in Delhi are angry that Arvind Kejriwal and his party consider them as fools. If the Vaishya community will believe this that the BJP is singling them out and getting their votes deleted, when reality is that two Vaishya leaders from Delhi are ministers in the Central government," Goel tweeted.

Spokesperson for the Delhi BJP unit Ashutosh said that Kejriwal first said that 20 lakh votes of scheduled caste have been deleted. This has been proved wrong by the Election Commission. This will be proved wrong again. The BJP is not involved in vote deletion politics.

Replying to this, Kejriwal alleged that the BJP got deleted eight lakh votes of the Bania community.

"The wrong policies of the BJP like notebandi and GST devastated business of traders. Banias are not voting for the BJP. So, you will get their votes deleted. Will you win like this?" Kejriwal tweeted in reply to Goel.

Many other AAP leaders, including party MP Sanjay Singh and spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, also attacked Goel over his tweet.

"Sirji 2 prominent ministers out of 7 from AAP Cabinet are baniyas, speaker of Delhi Vidhan Sabha is a baniya. BJP's 80% donation comes from baniyas yet only two out of 73 ministers in Modi govt are baniyas. What a joke?", Singh tweeted.