PM Modi Likens AAP To 'Aapda' For Delhi, Calls For Its Defeat In Polls

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday slammed AAP as an "aapda" for Del-hi, saying this "aapda" had taken the national capital in its grip in the past 10 years. Addressing people after launching a slew of infrastructure projects in the national capital, including in housing and education sectors, he hit out at the AAP-led city government and said the situation in the national capital would worsen if its reign continued.

On the one hand, the Centre is making a lot of efforts; on the other, the Union Territory government stands for brazen lies, Modi said, accusing the AAP government of committing corruption in a host of sectors ranging from school education to fighting pollution and the liquor trade.

Modi inaugurated a slew of development projects, including 1,675 flats for res-idents of 'jhuggi-jhopri' (JJ) or slum clusters and two urban redevelopment projects in the city. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a statement said Modi would also lay the foundation stone of the Veer Savarkar College at Roshan-pura, Najafgarh, which would have state-of-the-art facilities for education, besides an academic block in east Delhi and another in Dwarka.

With Assembly elections set to be held in the city next month, the prime minister said Delhi had launched a war on this "aapda (disaster)" and decided to get rid of it. Giving a call for AAP's defeat, Modi raised the slogan, "'Aapda' ko nahi sahenge, badal kar rahenge (we will not tolerate 'aapda', we will remove it)."

"This year will usher in a new politics of nation-building and people's welfare. Therefore, 'aapda' has to be removed and the BJP brought in," he said. Due to the city government not allowing the Centre's signature health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat, and other programmes in the national capital, Modi said he was unable to fully help the people living here despite his efforts.

If highways are being built in the capital and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has been able to make houses for the poor, it is because "aapda" does not have much role in these sectors, he added.

Taking a swipe at former Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Modi said he could also have built a "sheesh mahal" for himself but his dream was to ensure homes for everyone in the country.