Tiwari charged Rs 7 lakh from govt to perform at event

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party MP from North East Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, charged Rs 7 lakh from the Aam Aadmi Party government to perform at a cultural event

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party MP from North East Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, charged Rs 7 lakh from the Aam Aadmi Party government to perform at a cultural event in his own Lok Sabha constituency.

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Sources said the event was held by Hindi Academy, under the arts and culture ministry of the Delhi government, before Holi in March.

The performance was held in the Karawal Nagar assembly constituency, which is represented by Delhi culture minister Kapil Mishra .

While Mishra said he would not like to comment, the BJP MP defended himself saying there should be no controversy on his decision to take money for the event as he is an artiste and he gets paid for his performances.

“This is my source of income and it doesn’t matter if I am performing in my own constituency or somewhere else. I was paid ` 7 lakh and I had performed along with 15 others,” Tiwari told Hindustan Times.

North East Delhi, represented by the Bhojpuri film star and singer, is dominated by Poorvanchalis (migrants from eastern UP and Bihar) .

While the BJP won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the Poorvanchalis — who have been traditional vote bank of Congress — have en masse backed the AAP over the past two assembly polls.