The AAP on Sunday launched a broadside against the BJP on undocumented immigrants, with Delhi chief minister Atishi seeking data from home minister Amit Shah on the number of Rohingyas who have been settled in the capital.

Citing a tweet of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri in 2022 that Rohingyas would be relocated to apartments earmarked for the Economically Weaker Sections in the capital, Atishi wrote in her letter to Shah: “Were these illegal immigrants transported to different parts of India by the BJP government in a systematic manner by keeping the people of India in the dark? How many Rohingyas did you transport and relocate to Delhi?”

After protests against Puri’s announcement by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in 2022, the home ministry had blamed the Delhi government and directed that the Rohingyas be detained where they were currently staying.

Puri on Sunday posted on X: “No Rohingya migrant has been given a govt house in Delhi. In fact, contrary to the drummed up AAP rhetoric they are actually the ones who play host to the illegal Rohingyas in Delhi, have settled them in large numbers, give them electricity and water, and even pay them ₹10,000.”

An AAP MLA had announced compensations for the Rohingyas who had lost their homes in a blaze herein 2018.

The AAP’s latest push on Rohingyas follows the BJP’s complaint to the Election Commission (EC) about illegal Rohingyas and Bangladeshis registered as voters in Delhi where Assembly polls are due early next year. An ongoing police drive is yet to reveal any foreigners registered as voters here.

The AAP’s recent allegation about the BJP submitting bulk applications to election authorities for removal of voter names from the electoral rolls has compelled the EC to direct poll officials to enforce additional checks to prevent valid voters from being denied their voting rights.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said: “The first issue is how these individuals (illegal immigrants) are crossing the borders in the first place. Secondly, after crossing the borders, they are being settled in various parts of the country…. If our rights to basic resources such as electricity, water and jobs are being handed over to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, what will happen to the people of Delhi?”

The BJP has demanded a special session of the Delhi Assembly to implement an Assam-like National Register of Citizens in the capital to deport undocumented immigrants.

Final list

The AAP on Sunday announced its final list of candidates for the Assembly polls.

Kejriwal and Atishi will fight from New Delhi and Kalkaji, which they currently represent.

Kejriwal will face the Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit, the son of late chief minister Sheila Dikshit. BJP leader Parvesh Sahib Singh, a former MP and son of late chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, has hinted at contesting from New Delhi.