New Delhi: A political controversy erupted on Thursday after the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that Arvind Kejriwal renamed the official X handle of the Delhi Chief Minister's Office (CMO) to 'Arvind Kejriwal at work' (@kejriwalAtWork). Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva accused AAP national convenor of "stealing" the digital property of the Delhi government.
"Arvind Kejriwal changed the account of Delhi CMO and made it his own account, this is a direct loot of government money. This is digital loot. We have demanded from LG that the IT department of Delhi government should immediately file an FIR, start an investigation and take strict action," Sachdeva said as quoted by The Times of India.
Virendra Sachdeva's Tweet:
Notably, the account was deleted later. The Delhi BJP chief also sought Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's help to seek a report from the Delhi government’s IT and social media departments over the alleged renaming of the Delhi CMO's social media handles.
In-charge of the BJP's National Information and Technology Department, Amit Malviya, also slammed Kejriwal. "After losing the Delhi elections, Arvind Kejriwal deactivated and renamed the official Twitter and YouTube accounts of the Chief Minister of Delhi. These digital assets, previously known as @CMODelhi, have been rebranded as @KejriwalAtWork," Malviya tweeted.
"The @CMODelhi accounts were state-owned, not Arvind Kejriwal’s personal property. Tampering with them is equivalent to defacing state assets, and legal provisions exist to reclaim control," he added.
Amit Malviya's Tweet:
Meanwhile, the AAP refuted the charges levelled by the BJP. The Kejriwal-led party asked the BJP to stop these allegations and focus on issues of Delhi, reported Times Now.
In the recently concluded assembly polls, the BJP came back to power in Delhi after 27 years. The saffron party secured 48 seats, while the AAP bagged 22. The BJP is yet to make a decision on the next chief minister.
