The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday said voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the February 8 Assembly polls will mean voting against free electricity and water and against better education and health.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia also sought an apology from Union home minister and BJP chief Amit Shah over the BJP allegedly calling the people of Delhi “bikao” (freeloaders). BJP national secretary Anil Jain had said that the party will launch ‘Dilli ka Swabhiman’ campaign soon during which they will tell voters that ‘Dili bikao nahi hai’ (Delhiites are not up for sale).
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the AAP chief, on Saturday asserted that his pro-people policies were a result of honest governance.
Kejriwal slammed the BJP for opposing his government’s policies of providing free services to the residents. “BJP is opposing free electricity, water, education, medicine, bus travel in Delhi. We have given these facilities to the people of Delhi by saving the money which would otherwise have been siphoned off in corruption. My question to the BJP is —Is it okay to steal money from the public or is it okay to stop the theft and give the people free facilities with that money?” the chief minister said in a tweet.
The AAP government provides 200 units of free electricity, and 20,000 litres of free water. AAP is seeking votes for its governance, and for having streamlined the health and education services in the city.
Sisodia, who held a press conference on the issue on Saturday, said calling people “freeloaders” is an insult and demanded an apology from BJP chief Amit Shah and BJP’s working president JP Nadda.
“The BJP is insulting all those people whose children are studying in government schools. It is humiliating for lakhs of women who are travelling to work in buses for free, and also those people who are enjoying free and subsidised electricity and water,” he said.
Responding to the AAP, BJP’s national general secretary Anil Jain said, “This just shows the AAP’s frustration. They are trying to mislead the people by creating falsehoods. We are clearly saying that Delhiites are self respecting and will not fall for freebies. What the AAP is claiming credit for, is the minimum that government has to provide. They have done nothing for the people in the last 4.5 years and now all they are doing is spending public money on advertising.”
Jain further alleged that the Kejriwal-led government did nothing when the Centre asked it to regularise unauthorised colonies in 2015. “When we sent them a reminder in 2017, they still did nothing. In 2019, also they said the company which has to hold a survey cannot complete it now do we decided to help the 40 lakh people living in these colonies by getting the DDA involved,” he said.
The BJP says regularisation of unauthorised colonies, which is expected to benefit 40 lakh people, will trump over AAP’s claims of better governance.
Sisodia also mocked the BJP for being “confused” about its stand on whether it will promise free electricity and water to the people of Delhi or not if voted to power. “The BJP seems to be struggling within itself about its stand on our pro-poor policies. On the one hand, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said the party would offer five times the subsidies offered by AAP government in water and power and on the other, Union minister and election in-charge Prakash Javdekar refuted Tiwari’s statement saying he never said so,” he said.
