Meant ammonia as poison: Kejri to EC

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday submitted his reply to the Election Commission (EC) regarding his “Yamuna poisoning” charge against the Haryana Government, saying his remarks were in context with the “unprecedented high levels of ammonia in the river water”.

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Dirty politics

We supply clean water, but Delhi polluting it… Kejriwal resorting to cheap politics to cover his failures. Nayab Saini, Haryana CM

7 AAP MLAs quit

In a setback for AAP, seven of its outgoing MLAs resigned from the party on Friday, with only five days to go for the Delhi Assembly polls. Sources said these MLAs were disgruntled after being denied ticket for the February 5 polls and were in touch with other parties.

In his six-page reply addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Kejriwal also accused Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini of hatching a “conspiracy” to “influence” the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections by sending highly-polluted water to the national capital.

Accompanied by Delhi and Punjab CMs Atishi and Bhagwant Mann, the AAP convener submitted his reply to EC officials over the poll panel’s notice to him in the matter. The AAP leaders also carried three bottles of ammonia-mixed water to drive home their point. In his reply, Kejriwal said the “poison” found mixed with the Yamuna water was “ammonia”.

The commission, after receiving the letter, said they gave him a patient hearing at a short notice. “The commission, without getting swayed by personal insinuations and offensive strategy being in play, decided to examine the reply in detail and take decision(s) on merit,” the EC said.

Kejriwal submitted that his alleged statement was made in reference to the “unprecedented and dangerously-high” levels of ammonia in the raw water being supplied to Delhi from Haryana. “Any other inference of my statement is incorrect,” he stated.

Kejriwal said the ammonia levels in the water started rising from around 3.2 ppm (parts per million) on January 15 and reached 7 ppm around January 26-27. The CMs of Delhi and Punjab had raised the matter with Saini, but he did not do anything, despite promising action to control the ammonia levels or discharge more water to dilute it, he said.

“It is clear from the sequence of events that it is the Haryana CM who is at fault,” he alleged. He also accused the CEC of “hounding” him over his statements. “The alacrity with which the CEC has acted against me when I was merely acting on an issue of very high public importance is baffling,” Kejriwal said.