New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) Amid protests by parents against fee hikes by some private schools, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva on Friday lashed out at the Opposition AAP for pushing a false narrative that the BJP Government is unable to curb fee hikes.

The Delhi BJP President said that, contrary to Arvind Kejriwal’s claims, the truth is that fees for private schools in Delhi have been consistently increasing over the past decade of AAP rule.

“There are more than 1,650 private schools in Delhi, but the Kejriwal government managed to audit the accounts of only 75 schools in a year. Taking advantage of this, almost all private schools have been raising fees substantially,” he said.

Sachdeva alleged that Arvind Kejriwal, former Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and former Chief Minister Atishi have been using social media to spread confusion and lies about school hikes by private schools.

“The AAP leaders are relentlessly trying to build a false political narrative against the BJP in Delhi. When their propaganda failed on issues like the Women’s Prosperity Scheme, Ayushman Bharat, and power cuts, they have now taken up the school fee hike issue for political mileage -- but they will not succeed,” he said.

He said: “When in power, they used social media platforms to make false claims of success, and now, as the Opposition, they are misusing both social media and a certain section of the media to defame and weaken the current BJP government.”

In the case of a private school in Dwarka, where parents are currently agitating against the fee hike, the issue has been under dispute since 2023, he said.

Sachdeva said that the Rekha Gupta-led Delhi government has strictly curbed fee hikes by private schools and ordered audits for all 1,650 plus private schools and has halted any further fee hikes.

The Delhi BJP President reiterated that no school in Delhi will be allowed to increase fees without an audit, and even then, any increase will only be allowed if the school is incurring losses.

He questioned Kejriwal how, during his tenure, almost all court verdicts in fee hike cases favoured the private schools.

“Was there some kind of collusion?” he asked.

Sachdeva stated that Kejriwal’s real concern isn’t fee hikes, but the impending exposure of financial extortion by the School Management Committee members appointed during his rule.