‘Haryana CM Saini spat out Yamuna water’: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday (January 29) claimed that Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini did not swallow the water from the Yamuna, but instead pretended to drink it and then spat it back into the river. The BJP rejected his claim.

“Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini pretended to drink Yamuna water... and then spat the same water back into the Yamuna. When I said that Yamuna water could be dangerous for the lives of Delhiites due to ammonia contamination, they threatened to file an FIR against me. They want to make the people of Delhi drink the same poisonous water which they themselves cannot drink. I will never let this happen,” posted Kejriwal on X, tagging a video of the incident.

Also Read: Do not mix issue of high ammonia in Yamuna with poisoning charge: EC to Kejriwal

The Haryana unit of the BJP countered Kejriwal’s claim saying the latter had shared an “edited” video of Saini sipping water from the Yamuna.

“Mr Kejriwal, take off the glasses of lies and deceit and watch the video again and if you have the courage, then try drinking the water of Yamuna from Delhi’s side,” posted the BJP tagging what they claimed to be the “real” video.

‘Extremely poisonous’

Responding to the Election Commission’s (EC) request for proof of his allegation that the BJP government in Haryana had poisoned the Yamuna water, Kejriwal shared a 14-page letter with the EC containing data about pollution in the river.

In the letter, the AAP supremo said water received from Haryana in the recent past was “highly contaminated and extremely poisonous for human health”.

Also Read: 'Poison in Yamuna' remark: Haryana court summons Kejriwal

“The verifiable fact remains that Delhi, as a lower riparian state, depends on raw water supply from Haryana, an upper riparian state, for potable water,” he wrote in the letter. “The raw water received from Haryana recently is highly contaminated and extremely poisonous for human health.”

The former Delhi chief minister told the poll body that “the facts prove no violation of any law or any code has been committed”.

Kejriwal requested the Election Commission to intervene on the major issue of availability of safe water and pass appropriate instructions to the State of Haryana so that a safe quantity of water is made available to the citizens of Delhi.

Also Read: 'Water terrorism': AAP, BJP spar over Yamuna water as political slugfest continues

Both the opposition parties, the BJP and the Congress, have challenged Kejriwal’s claim that the water in the Yamuna has been poisoned. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Kejriwal had made the claim five years previously that he would bathe in the Yamuna river and drink the water from the Yamuna, but he has not done it till date.