Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Verma has hit back at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal over the “slapgate” row, accusing the former Delhi chief minister of using the “Gen Z” to target him after a video showing Verma slapping a man during a road inspection event went viral.
Responding to Kejriwal’s criticism, Verma said the man involved in Sunday’s confrontation was “not Gen Z” but a “goon” allegedly brought to the spot by AAP MLA Jarnail Singh.
“Mr. Kejriwal, the person who came to my round yesterday, he was not Gen Z, he was your goon. Your MLA brought many goons there,” Verma said in his video response.
Verma said he had gone to the site after a complaint from the Opposition MLA and claimed he wanted to explain the work being carried out there. “I wanted to explain to him lovingly what kind of work we are doing. If you have any complaints, I reached there to clear them,” he said.
The BJP leader also hit out at Kejriwal over his political record, alleging that the former Delhi CM had “not built roads in Delhi for 15 years” and had not carried out development work.
“This must have happened for the first time in Delhi that a minister goes to a round on the complaint of an opposition MLA, reaches on the spot, calls him and tries to explain to him on the spot that we are not doing anything wrong,” Verma said.
Verma also said that the man at the centre of the controversy – identified as Sahib Singh – had himself been involved in a prior assault case, and that he had been removed from a small MCD contract three months ago.
The minister stated that Singh had broken the neck of an employee connected with an MCD contract and that Singh’s own relative had also been arrested by Delhi Police.
The minister also accused the AAP side of obstructing Delhi government work and seeking money from government officials and contractors.
“If you have obstructed the work of the Delhi government, or asked money from the officials of the Delhi government, your goons, your ministers, or if you have harassed the Delhi contractor, then I will not tolerate it,” Verma said.
The row erupted after a video showed Verma appearing to slap Sahib Singh during a road inspection in west Delhi. AAP alleged that Singh was recording the inspection and raising questions over the quality of the newly laid road. Verma, however, has alleged that AAP workers misbehaved with him and that one of them abused his family.
Delhi Police has received five complaints from both sides. No FIR had been registered in the slap incident at the time of the latest reports.
Ending his video, Verma told Kejriwal: “You are going there today. Go. Take all your goons with you. Do as much drama as you want. But your goonism will not work in front of me. Main yaad hoon na? Your Parvesh Verma.”