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Seeking to expand the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s footprint in the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh slated for the Assembly polls in barely three months, party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday announced nine poll “guarantees”, which include free electricity up to 300 units and waiver of pending electricity bills, a thousand rupees to women above 18 years as college going expenses, free treatment in hospitals and clinics, three thousand per month to unemployed youth, and the regularisation of contractual employees in the state.
Explaining how the AAP would provide such sops to the people in the event of coming to power in the upcoming state Assembly polls, Kejriwal told a party workers’ convention in Raipur, “There is a lot of corruption in Chhattisgarh. We are non-corrupt. We will curb all kinds of corruption and use the money for fulfilling guarantees. The people are frustrated due to rising prices. They do not know how to run their families.”
Accompanied by his senior party colleague and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal pledged nine guarantees while holding that he will announce the 10th guarantee later, which would be a “major announcement for farmers and tribals”.
The AAP had contested from 85 of Chhattisgarh’s total 90 Assembly seats in the 2018 elections, but the party had lost in all the seats garnering a total of 1.23 lakh votes with a vote share of just 0.9 %.
Kejriwal began his speech by charging that all the parties since Independence have tried to garner votes in the name of religion or caste, claiming that his party seeks people’s mandate for building good schools and hospitals.
He said, “I was an income tax commissioner, Mann was a comedian. I could have made a lot of money but I did not do so. I did not come into politics for money. Anna Andolan took place and a party was born and no one thought we would come to power but we came to power three times (twice in Delhi and once in Punjab) with a big majority.”
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said, “Did you get Rs 15 lakh in your account as promised? Other parties work in the last six months of their tenure. But we work as soon as our government is formed. We have already completed five to six guarantees we promised in Punjab in just 18 months.”
The first guarantee pledged by Kejriwal for the Chhattisgarh voters is to provide 24 hour electricity for free up to 300 units. “We will also waive the pending electricity bills till November like we did in Punjab. Even foreign countries like US, Tokyo, France, and UK cannot give such a guarantee. This is a magic that only I have,” the AAP chef said.
He also said his party would make the government schools better than the private schools in Chhattisgarh, like in Delhi. “Four lakh students in Delhi left private schools and took admission in government schools. Sons of rickshaw drivers, IAS officers and judges now sit in the same class. We will regularise teachers. Private schools are looting you and acting like goons, increasing fees all the time. In Delhi, for ten years fees have not increased,” he said.
Kejriwal also promised that good air-conditioned hospitals would be set up free of cost, where even transplant operations costing over Rs 20 lakh would be made free. Mohalla clinics would also be set up in all the villages.
He claimed 2 lakh government jobs and 12 lakh private jobs have been given in Delhi so far and the same arrangement will be made in Chhattisgarh, adding that those unemployed will get Rs 3,000 per month.
On women empowerment, Kejriwal said Rs 1,000 would be given to all women above 18 years, so they can complete their higher education. He promised free holy trips for senior citizens. He also promised Rs 1 crore each for the families of the martyred security personnel who make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty for the country.
Led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the Congress has ramped up its preparations for the Assembly polls in a bid to return to power, with the principal Opposition BJP also stepping up its attempts to win the battle.
Significantly, both the Congress and the AAP are allies in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, which is set to have its third meeting on August 31-September 1 in Mumbai.
Kejriwal’s announcement in Raipur came days after differences erupted between the AAP and Congress over fighting the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi following the remarks made by Congress leader Alka Lamba that they have been directed by the party leadership to work strongly in all seven seats in the national capital. With the Congress leadership later downplaying Lamba’s statement, the AAP claimed the row had ended.
