Sheila Dikshit's claim that Delhi is richest state is 'bizzare': BJP

NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP today sought to punch holes in Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's claim that Delhi is the richest city in the country, saying there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor due to the "flawed" policies of the city's government.

Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel termed as "bizzare" Dikshit's statement that Delhi is the richest state in the country and said, "The chief minister continues to disseminate pack of lies. Around half of the Delhi population lives in slums, JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies."

"A state gets rich when most of its people get rich. With only a handful of people getting richer during Congress regime and most of the population being pushed to fringes, it is bizarre for any chief minister to make such claim," Goel said in a statement today.

Goel was reacting to the statement made by Dikshit at the release of 'Delhi Statistical Handbook-2013' on Thursday.

The BJP leader said,"A few individuals might have got rich but the city has more than 1,600 unauthorised colonies, 685 slum colonies, 45 resettlement colonies and no less than 685 slums according to government's own official records. The sub-standard living conditions in most of these areas is visible to everyone."

"Can we call a city richest, whose half population needs highly subsidised food grains to survive?" he asked.

Slamming the statistics mentioned in the book, Goel said "the Delhi government has tried to paint a rosy picture about public transport through this statistical handbook by saying DTC services were availed by around 46.77 lakh daily average passengers during 2012-13."