Aam Aadmi Party on Friday slammed the central government's decision of not including the tableaux of party-ruled Punjab and Delhi in the Republic Day parade of 2024, saying that the 'central government is trying to take revenge from the AAP governments' in these two states. Earlier, BJP had responded to the AAP's claim of 'dirty politics' over the Republic Day parade, saying that the Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann is 'shamelessly lying' about the reasons behind the rejection.
Delhi's Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj levelled the accusation of exacting revenge on the central government saying that Delhi's tableau representing the health and education model of the country's capital has been rejected for the third time in a row, this year.
"The Republic Day tableau of the country's capital, Delhi, has been rejected by the central government for three years. In 2022 the theme was 'Resolve 75' in which our design was rejected in the second round of meetings. In 2023, the theme was 'Nari Shakti', and our design was again rejected, in 2024, the theme was 'Viksit Bharat' and our tableau was again rejected irrespective of the education and health model of the Delhi government that was portrayed in the tableau. Even the Punjab government's tableau for the upcoming Republic Day parade has been rejected. The central government is trying to take revenge only from the AAP governments," the AAP Minister said.
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However, the BJP has refuted all the allegations and said that the AAP leaders are trying to divert attention from the real reason behind the non-inclusion of the tableaux of both states. The party said that it was due to the pictures of CM Mann and AAP's national convener Arvind Kejriwal that the tableaus were rejected.
"The real reason for rejection of Punjab Tableau is that it prominently showed pics of Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann rather than Mai Bhago Ji or martyrs! Mann Sahab is shamelessly lying, and worst is he has surrendered Punjab’s sovereignty at the feet of Kejriwal. You made Punjab the slave of Kejriwal in the name of change," said Delhi BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
Earlier, the Aam Aadmi Party had accused the central government of rejecting both tableaux without giving any reason.
"On Thursday, AAP accused the Centre of not providing any reason for excluding Punjab's tableau.
"Not including the tableaux of Delhi and Punjab in the Republic Day parade shows the dirty politics of the BJP. BJP-ruled states like Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are consistently given the opportunity (to showcase their tableaux) in the Republic Day parade. Still, like last time, Delhi and Punjab have been sidelined this time too," AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar said on Friday.
Bansuri Swaraj, the Delhi BJP secretary, claimed that an expert committee decides on the tableaux proposals. She said that AAP is hiding the real reason behind the rejection of their tableaux.
"It is shameful that without telling reasons for rejection of their tableaux proposals, the AAP leaders are politicising the decision of a specialist committee," she said.