AAP Alleges BJP-Backed Body Behind Delhi School Fee Hikes, BJP Hits Back Citing ‘Corruption Sagas’

AAP accuses Delhi government of colluding with private schools over fee hikes, while BJP denies involvement.

File Photo of Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj

Source : PTI

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party AAP on Tuesday hit out at the Delhi government over fee hike by private schools, alleging link between umbrella body of management committees of such schools and the ruling BJP.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva slammed the AAP, saying they were disgruntled due to its defeat in the February Assembly polls.

"After losing power in Delhi due to huge corruption in education, power, water and health sectors, the AAP leaders are now trying to create perception that all is not well in new BJP regime," Sachdeva said in a statement.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the BJP of being against the interests of the poor and the middle class.

He said that since April 1, several prominent private schools in Delhi -- some of which are well-known not just in the city but across India -- have significantly hiked their fees, prompting protests from parents.

"The president of Association of Unaided Private Schools management committees, is an office bearer of the BJP's teachers' cell and he actively campaigned for the party in the Assembly polls," Bharadwaj claimed showing several social media posts.

He also claimed that the association even went to courts for fee hikes during the rule of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi.

If the chief minister is unaware of the matter, she should immediately roll back the fee hike, Bharadwaj said.

"If the government fails to act, it would clearly indicate that it is complicit," he said.

Sachdeva said Education minister Ashish Sood has ordered the SDMs to conduct an audit of 1,665 private schools in Delhi, and asserted that the AAP leaders were creating a "false perception".

"Aam Aadmi Party leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi among others are disgruntled and unable to accept the people of Delhi have rejected their government whose corruption sagas have few parallel across India," Sachdeva said.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Atishi alleged that many schools, emboldened by the BJP, had significantly increased their tuition fees without proper oversight.

Similarly, former education minister Manish Sisodia accused the BJP government of handing over city's education system to the "education mafia," claiming that several private schools had raised their fees by 20 to 82 per cent. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)