Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Adesh Gupta on Friday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia over his remarks on the ongoing demolition drive by the civic bodies across the Capital.

 Gupta said that if Sisodia were concerned about the poor, then he would have given slum dwellers pucca houses and provided them tap water, rations and helped them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His remarks come after Sisodia, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, claimed that the civic bodies are planning to raze 63 lakh dwellings in the national capital.

Sisodia had also written a letter to Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister urging him to stop the "destruction" ensuing in the national capital due to the anti-encroachment drive by the BJP-ruled municipal bodies.Hitting out at Sisodia over this, Delhi BJP president Gupta said, "I can understand your pain and panic because encroachments by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis are being removed who indulge in rioting and crimes, and are then given shelter by AAP leaders and MLAs." Addressing an online briefing earlier, Sisodia had said,"I have written to him (Shah) saying that this (demolition drive) should be stopped. If bulldozers are to be used, they should be used to demolish the houses of those BJP leaders and civic body representatives who took bribes to allow such structures to be constructed."

Claiming that Sisodia was not at all worried about poor people, Gupta asked him to stop indulging in politics over the encroachment drive against Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. An anti-encroachment drive in

Delhi's Madanpur Khadar on Thursday sparked protests and pelting of stones where local people claimed that legal structures were bulldozed.

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was part of a protest in the southeast Delhi locality, was arrested on charges of rioting and obstructing public servants in discharge of their duty, police officials said.