With a section of auto and taxi unions threatening to strike work on Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh want the odd-even scheme to “fail” but people will foil their designs.
Monday will be the real test of the public transport arrangements in the city when schools and offices will reopen after an extended weekend, and taxis and autos going off roads can spell hardship for commuters.
“BJP appeals to people to break odd-even. BJP auto-union calls strike. In January too, BJP tried to fail odd-even by orchestrating officers’ strike. People failed BJP and made odd-even success.
“RSS and BJP want odd-even to fail but Delhi will fail BJP yet again. Media has portrayed BJP’s mischief as politics between it and AAP. Have the guts to call out their wrongs,” Kejriwal tweeted.
The second phase of the road-rationing experiment returned to the city on Friday after a gap of two-and-a-half months amid heightened crackdown on violators as opposed to stress on voluntary compliance seen during the first phase.
Kejriwal also referred to senior BJP leader Vijay Goel’s assertion that he will violate the rule on Monday as a mark of protest against the scheme, which he alleged is a “publicity stunt” by the Aam Aadmi Party chief.
AAP leader Ashutosh claimed, the strike threat has been made at the “behest” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the traffic-rationing initiative does not succeed.
“The BJP auto union and (BJP MP) Vijay Goel want the popular odd-even scheme to fail, at the behest of Modi ji,” Ashutosh said.
Delhi’s Culture Minister Kapil Mishra said the BJP will get a “tight slap” on Monday morning for trying to fail the odd-even scheme.
“Despite the conspiracy, falsehood and lies spread by the BJP, on Monday morning Delhi will give a tight slap to BJP which is trying all dirty tricks to fail odd-even,” Mishra said.
Rajendra Soni, who is general secretary of both Delhi auto rickshaw sangh’ and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Unions, had said that auto and black-yellow taxis will not ply on the capital’s roads on Monday to protest against the app-based cab services.
Image: A traffic cop slaps a challan to a commuter for riding with number plate ending with an even digit in New Delhi on Friday on the first day of the second phase of Delhi government’s odd-even road rationing scheme. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/PTI
