Chandigarh: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday targeted the AAP over purported videos in which jailed Delhi minister Satyendar Jain is seen getting massages inside his cell in Tihar jail.
“Many have commented that Delhi did not become London, but it has become a Thailand spa,” the Union minister for housing and urban affairs told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
“They (AAP) are saying why objections are being raised on medical therapy. But a new thing has come to the fore today that the masseur who was seen in the video giving a massage (to Jain) is facing charges of a different kind,” the minister said, referring to reports that the man giving massages to Jain is an inmate lodged in Tihar jail in a rape case.
Purported videos of Jain, who is lodged in jail in a money laundering case, getting massages inside his prison cell have gone viral on social media. In the videos, Jain is seen getting back, foot and head massages in his cell, reading some documents and talking to visitors while lying on a bed.
After Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) drew flak over the videos, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had claimed that Jain was receiving physiotherapy following a spinal injury.
Puri was here to join the newly inducted appointees during an event at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed appointment letters to new recruits via videoconferencing as part of the Centre’s second ‘Rozgar Mela’ (employment fair).
Further attacking AAP, Puri said that many years ago one of the party’s leaders had said “we are only part of an anti-corruption movement and we have no desire to enter electoral politics”.
He added the AAP is the “most corrupt outfit” India has seen since independence.
Asked about the Opposition targeting the AAP over alleged deteriorating law and order in Punjab, Puri said, “When people say that law and order is deteriorating, it is not an allegation, it is a statement of fact.”
Replying to a question about Qatar reportedly inviting controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to the FIFA World Cup, Puri said he has no knowledge of that but he is sure that India will take it up.
“We (India) have our views on him and I am sure they will be conveyed in the strongest possible terms to the concerned authorities,” he said in response to another question.
Addressing the new recruits at the headquarters of Special DG, Border Security Force (Western Command), Puri exhorted them to take the nation ahead.
He told the new recruits that they will shape India’s destiny as a developed country in the years to come.
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