New Delhi, Mar 11 (IANS): Lashing out at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party, AAP, Union minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani on Friday said that a party which gets less votes than NOTA in Uttar Pradesh is claiming there is a wave in its favour.

She alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has stalled the release of Rs 13,000 crore to the municipal corporations of Delhi. Addressing a press conference, Irani said, "It is ridiculous that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which got less votes than NOTA in Uttar Pradesh, forfeited its deposit in 55 out of 70 seats in Uttarakhand and got only six per cent votes in Goa, the leader of that party Arvind Kejriwal is commenting against the 'Pradhan Sevak' of the country and claiming there is a wave in favour of the AAP."

She said that Kejriwal has withheld Rs 13,000 crore due to the municipal corporations in the last seven years, so that the corporations fail to perform their duties. She asked whether Kejriwal knew that the municipal corporations had sought reforms last year. Irani demanded that Kejriwal should immediately release the Rs 13,000 crores into the bank accounts of the municipal corporations.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said that forcing the Election Commission to cancel polls is unprecedented, unconstitutional and bad for democracy. The Delhi chief minister was referring to the State Election Commission decision to defer the announcement of dates for the municipal polls in Delhi on Wednesday. Kejriwal has claimed that there is a wave in favour of the AAP.