Delhi BJP regrets Parvesh Verma slapping incident, says AAP MLA provoked PWD minister

The Delhi BJP on Sunday expressed regret over the Vikaspuri incident in which PWD Minister Parvesh Verma slapped a man during a road inspection, even as it alleged that the man was a habitual offender. The party also claimed that the incident was triggered after AAP MLA Jarnail Singh arrived at the site with around 50 party workers and behaved in an "indecent and uncivilised manner".

Earlier, Verma had said the man, identified as Saheb Singh and described by the BJP as an aide of Jarnail Singh, had abused his family while he was inspecting road work on the Vikaspuri Ring Road. The BJP said Verma had admitted what happened was wrong, but accused the AAP MLA of deliberately provoking the situation.

In a statement, BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor said Saheb Singh was a "habitual offender" and claimed that a case had earlier been registered against him for assaulting an MCD employee, after which he was arrested. "What happened in Vikaspuri was wrong, and the PWD minister has also admitted it. We all regret it. But MLA Jarnail Singh should explain why, despite being informed in advance by the minister, he arrived 45 minutes late and why he came with a crowd?" Kapoor asked.

Kapoor alleged that the manner in which Jarnail Singh "deliberately provoked" Verma reminded him of how AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, through a similar "conspiracy", had got the Delhi chief secretary and even his own party's MP assaulted. He also claimed that the AAP MLA had been complaining since last week against the contractor handling the road work in the Vikaspuri area and had been pressuring officials to arrange a meeting with Verma. "When the contractor did not meet the MLA, he started putting pressure through videos on social media. This came to the notice of the PWD Minister, following which he decided to conduct an administrative inspection of the site," Kapoor said.

According to Kapoor, Verma called Jarnail Singh while travelling to Vikaspuri and asked him to meet at the site "as a matter of propriety". "The MLA arrived with around 50 AAP workers and started behaving in an indecent and uncivilised manner," he claimed. Kapoor said Verma had "chose the democratic approach" by meeting the MLA and trying to find a solution, but alleged that Jarnail Singh spoke to the minister inappropriately and that the workers with him behaved in a similar way.

Later, Verma reacted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who criticised him over the incident. Gandhi wrote on X, "A BJP minister from the Delhi government is seen slapping a young man in a video. His crime? He was making a video. A road was being dug up right in front of the minister, and he had a camera in his hand. This is the face of a power that no longer fears the voters." Responding to the post, Verma said, "Rahul ji, aap rehne do bhai, aapko kuch nhi pata (Rahul ji, you just stay out of it, bro, you don't know a thing)." The row over the Vikaspuri incident has since turned into a political exchange, with the BJP expressing regret while defending the circumstances in which it took place.