New Delhi, Jul 12 (IANS): Delhi's threat of water crisis has once again brought the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP head to head. In the fresh standoff on Monday, scores of BJP volunteers staged a protest outside Delhi Jal Board chairman Satyendar Jain and tried to cut the water supply of his residence.
As the agitation was already announced by Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta two days back, the alert Delhi Police had to use water cannons to disperse the crowd (BJP leaders and workers). However, despite the water cannon, the BJP leaders and workers continued their protest and threatened to cut off the water supply to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence if the issue is not resolved within the next two days.
The protest came a day after AAP workers on Sunday allegedly damaged the water connection to Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta's residence in Patel Nagar during a protest against the Haryana government for allegedly not providing the capital its share of water.
Responding to AAP's agitation, BJP leaders and workers gathered outside the DJB's zonal office in Civil Lines area on Monday. They alleged that people in the city were facing a crisis due to poor water supply.
During the protest, Adesh Gupta said, "People in Delhi are craving for water. The ministers of the Kejriwal government will realise the problems being faced by the people when their water supply is cut off."
BJP workers later reached the residence of Jain, who lives in the same area, and tried to cut his water connection.
"We used a JCB machine to remove the waterline outside Jain's residence. We will cut the water connection to Kejriwal's residence, too, if the Delhi government fails to resolve the water crisis in the next two days," said Delhi BJP media head Navin Kumar.
He also added that Delhi Police used water cannons and detained several party leaders and workers during the protest.
On Saturday, DJB vice chairman Raghav Chadha alleged that Haryana was withholding part of Delhi's share of water. Later on Sunday Chadha claimed that DJB had moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to Haryana to release the capital's legitimate share of water.