AAP protests outside BJP headquarters over alleged corruption in cinema land deal

Scores of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday staged a demonstration outside the head office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in central Delhi alleging corruption in the municipal corporations in Delhi (MCD) and sale of assets at under-valued rates

Scores of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday staged a demonstration outside the head office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in central Delhi alleging corruption in the municipal corporations in Delhi (MCD) and sale of assets at under-valued rates.

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“Aam Aadmi Party gheraoed BJP headquarters after MCD sold the Novelty Cinema land worth ₹200 crore for only ₹34 crore. The BJP knows it is going to be defeated in MCD elections, so it wants to fill its pocket by selling off public properties through MCD. People of Delhi want that an honest government, like the Kejriwal government, be brought into the MCD,” said the AAP’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta.

BJP’s Delhi spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the north MCD has got the lease sale of Novelty Cinema done by an open tender.

Going by the commercial circle rate, the plot is worth ₹19.50 crore. The plot has been leased at ₹35 crore, almost double the circle rate, said Kapoor.

“Before levelling baseless charges, AAP leaders should know that authorised construction will be done on a large part of this plot that will have hardly 225% floor area ratio (FAR), unlike small plots around it where up to 300 to 350% FAR is allowed,” said the BJP spokesperson.

“If the AAP government feels that the plot is being sold below the market price, then it should come forward and help the cash-starved north MCD by buying the plot at their self-claimed market value,” said Kapoor.

While the AAP is in charge of the Delhi government, the BJP rules the three municipal corporations in the Capital. Delhi goes to the municipal polls next year.