Ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, the AAP on Sunday accused the BJP of settling Rohingya refugees in the city while publicly vilifying them.

Reacting to the allegation, the BJP said the real issue is not the settlement of legal refugees but the presence of millions of illegally-residing Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis not only in Delhi but also in other states and accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of resorting to "baseless rhetoric".

In a statement, senior AAP leaders, including Chief Minister Atishi, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, pointed to a 2022 post on X by Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri as evidence of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) involvement in housing Rohingya Muslims in EWS (Economically Weaker Section) flats in Delhi's Bakkarwala area.

"Hardeep Puri's tweet proves that the BJP conspired to settle Rohingyas in Delhi while pretending to oppose them. They provided EWS flats, security and facilities to them but misled the public with their hate rhetoric. This is the BJP's dirty and deceitful politics," Sisodia said in a post in Hindi on X.

Atishi echoed similar sentiments and said, "The BJP was so desperate to accuse Arvind Kejriwal that they forgot their own role in bringing and settling Rohingyas in Delhi. Hardeep Puri's tweet has exposed the truth to the people of Delhi." "On August 17, 2022, Union minister Hardeep Puri had tweeted that India has a tradition of welcoming refugees and announced plans to relocate Rohingyas to EWS flats in Delhi, ensuring them basic amenities, UNHCR IDs and security. This contradicts the BJP's public stance on the issue," the statement said.

Singh said, "Delhiites can now see who truly brought and settled Rohingyas in the city. The BJP's duplicity stands exposed." Other AAP leaders, including Sandeep Pathak, Raghav Chadha and Gopal Rai, also took to social media to slam the BJP, accusing it of indulging in divisive politics.

Reacting to the allegation, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said ever since his party launched a campaign to disenfranchise illegally-residing Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis and expel them from the country, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders have been resorting to a baseless rhetoric to divert the attention of people from the core issues affecting Delhi.

"The real issue is not the settlement of legal refugees but the presence of millions of illegally-residing Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, not just in Delhi but also in states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand," Sachdeva was quoted as saying in statement issued by the BJP.

The AAP had raised the issue of Rohingya infiltrators even in 2022, the BJP leaqder said, adding, "Back then, we had said, and we reiterate now, that refugees are a separate matter, but infiltrators should be kept in detention camps, not in flats." The controversy comes as political tensions rise ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls due in February, with both the AAP and the BJP accusing each other of misleading the public.

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