Auto-rickshaw permit scam: BJP to protest against Arvind Kejriwal today

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party activists will on Monday stage a protest at the Delhi Secretariat against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party leader was involved in the alleged auto-rickshaw permit scam.

BJP’s Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay had on Sunday demanded state Transport Minister Gopal Rai’s resignation over the scam, a day after the Delhi government on Saturday suspended three transport department officials over alleged corruption in issuing fresh Letters Of Intents (LOIs) for three-wheelers.

“We have requested Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to seek a report from the transport department on the issue and the investigation should be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Branch,” Upadhyay said.

Upadhyay said Kejriwal was also involved in the scam and the BJP would protest against him on Monday at the Delhi Secretariat.

“The Kejriwal government is completely involved in corruption and it has increased so much that this government is playing fraud with its own supporters, the auto drivers of Delhi,” he had said.

The Transport Minister had made a preliminary enquiry in which two kinds of irregularities were revealed — the LOIs were issued on pick-and-choose basis despite orders of the minister to follow chronological order and the LOIs were being handed over to certain intermediaries/unauthorised people instead of beneficiaries/applicants.

All 932 LOIs issued by the transport department till date have been scrapped, and the exercise of issuing LOIs has been put on hold.