Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday alleged a nexus between Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and certain power distribution companies, saying firms owned by him were installing and replacing meters for the discoms in the city.
Mr. Upadhyay strongly rejected the allegations saying he was not involved in any sale or purchase of power meters and challenged the AAP leader to come out with proof of his charges or quit politics.
Asking BJP to come clean on the alleged nexus, Mr. Kejriwal wondered how the party made Mr. Upadhyay its Delhi chief when he has alleged links with power discom BSES. He alleged that one of the six companies owned by Mr. Upadhyay had two VAT numbers, which is illegal.
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Addressing a press conference, the former Delhi chief minister alleged that Mr. Upadhyay owns 6000 shares in New Delhi Communication Network Ltd (NCNL) that provides services like installation and replacement of meters to power discoms.
Mr. Kejriwal alleged Mr. Upadhyay and his wife have 2500 shares each in another company and Delhi BJP vice-president Ashish Sood was its former director.
“Their website reveals that it bagged the best vendor award from Reliance Energy, its No 1 in BSES’s metering work and till date has installed and replaced meters in Delhi.
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“Installing and replacing meters is done by Satish Upadhyay’s company. People of Delhi have been alleging that these meters are running fast. This is the reason, why the AAP government had ordered probe into installation of the meters,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Rejecting the allegations, Mr. Upadhyay said there was no records of the firms mentioned by AAP. “Kejriwal should either give proof of my association with the companies or he should quit politics.”
Mr. Kejriwal added that the BJP had been dilly-dallying over its promise of slashing electricity tariff by 30 per cent and did not criticise the firms when the CAG had complained that they did not furnish details of their finances.
“The BJP said it will reduce electricity tariff by 30 per cent, but it could not slash the rate for the past seven months, instead it has increased it by 15 per cent.
“AAP had started audit, but for the past 7-8 months CAG has many a time complained that these companies were doing irregularities, but BJP government did not say anything. In seven months. When BJP was at the helm of affairs in Delhi, they stopped the meter checking work initiated by AAP,” Mr. Kejriwal said.