New Delhi: AAP MLA Somnath Bharti alleged that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had "threatened" to register an FIR against him after he raised the issue of change of land use of a plot from a nursery school to a BJP office at DDA meeting today, a charge strongly rubbished by the LG's office.
Bharti claimed Jung threatened to register a police case against him during the meeting of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) today. The meeting took place at the Raj Niwas to "confirm" the minutes of the previous meet held on September 23, in which Bharti was "not present".
"...the Delhi government had given several requests for land for schools and hospitals. Nothing is happening on that end and here land is being given to the BJP for political purpose, which was earlier alloted for building a nursery school. They were not ready to discuss the issue.
"I wanted to know if any study had been done to ascertain whether people want a school or not. They were not responding to my questions, but I kept on asking about it. I also furnished all letters from Delhi government demanding land for school and hospital... the LG said he will see to that an FIR is registered against me," Bharti told reporters, adding that Jung ended the meeting abruptly.
Bharti also claimed that Jung had also asked whether anyone was recording the meeting.
The LG's office, however, denied the charges made by Bharti. "There was some argument between BJP leaders and Somnath Bharti. He was creating ruckus in the meeting. His charge of LG threatening is totally baseless and LG's office strongly rubbishes the charge," an official at the LG secretariat said.
The Malviya Nagar MLA and former Law Minister claimed that BJP legislator O P Sharma, BJP's Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay also "badmouthed" him.
"They said, I was better in jail. This shows the BJP is misusing the police. They are showing AAP legislators and workers the threat of police to shut our mouth," Bharti said.
Apart from Bharti, Sharma, Upadhyaya, AAP's Krishna Nagar MLA S K Bagga is also a member of DDA.
Meanwhile, the DDA said Bharti created a "situation" saying, "He (Bharti) was not present in the last meeting when the decision was taken to move the proposal to public objections and suggestion phase. And, in today's meeting he wanted that decision to be reverted," the official said.
"The Minutes of Meeting once done cannot be changed, as they reflect the decision taken. And, since he was not present in the previous meeting, how can he asked for the decision to be reverted," he said.
The decision to "change" the land use of a nursery plot in central Delhi to that of a plot for a BJP office has kicked up a row between the AAP government and the DDA, headed by the Lt Governor, who is its chairman.
DDA, in a statement released yesterday, had said that the change in land use was done upon the request of L&DO, which owns the plot, in accordance with the DDA Act.
In a two-page letter earlier to Jung, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had accused him of allotting the plot to BJP for building a party office and wondered what had "forced" the LG to take such a step.
