It's time to shun politics and work together to tackle pollution: Kejriwal to Javadekar

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday (November 16) appealed to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to work together to find a solution to the problem of air pollution.

Responding to a tweet of Javadekar demanding apology from him for supporting the ‘chowkidar chor hai’ slogan against the prime minister, Kejriwal said it was not time to indulge in politicking, but to tackle pollution.

Javadekars tweet came after the Supreme Court rejected petitions seeking review of its judgement on the Rafale fighter aircraft deal and gave a clean chit to the government. “@ArvindKejriwal who supported the slogan chowkidar chor hai should also apologise,” he tweeted.

Responding to Javadekar, the Delhi chief minister tweeted in Hindi, “Sir, this is not the time to do politics but to curb pollution together. All governments should work together to provide relief to people. The Delhi government and the people of Delhi are doing everything they can do to curb pollution. We need your support, sir.”

Also read | Odd politics over pollution even as Delhi gasps for breath

The national capital witnessed a dip in pollution levels on Saturday morning even as the air quality in the city remained in the “severe” category.

In an initiative to tackle pollution, the Delhi government introduced the odd-even road rationing scheme between November 4 and November 15. A decision on extending it further will be taken on November 18.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday protested near the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) office here against the ‘baseless allegations’ levelled by the party in the Rafale jet deal, two days after the Supreme Court rejected pleas to review its judgment giving clean chit to the Modi government.