Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal launched the ‘Revdi Par Charcha’ campaign with an eye on the Delhi Assembly elections, even as the party faces internal turmoil.
For the elections due to be held in February next year, AAP’s campaign name played on the BJP jibe on the party’s freebies or “revdis” given to the people. Mr Kejriwal said that his party’s district and booth-level office bearers will reach out to voters through 65,000 meetings, distributing pamphlets about the free facilities (‘revdis’) provided by the AAP government.
Among the seven freebies he said that will be provided will be electricity, water, education, treatment at mohalla clinics, bus travel for women, pilgrimage scheme for the elderly and monthly ₹ 1,000 assistance for women.
Mr Kejriwal said AAP workers will ask the voters what the BJP has done for Delhi in the last 10 years since “the national capital is a half-state and the central government has as many powers as we do”. “The BJP is in power in 20 states and not even in a single state do they provide any of these free ‘revdis’. This is because they don’t have the intention. Only AAP knows how to provide these facilities,” Kejriwal said, he said, adding that the BJP has only halted his government’s works.
Mr Kejriwal also accused Union Ministers Amit Shah and Hardeep Puri of making false promises to the Purvanchali community during the last elections. “They promised proper registrations for unauthorised colonies but haven’t completed even one in five years. In contrast, we’ve given dignity to the lives of Purvanchal residents,” he said.
The AAP has named 11 candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections. While Brahma Singh Tanwar will contest from Chhatarpur, Anil Jha will be AAP candidate from Kiradi. Deepak Singhla will contest in Vishwas Nagar and Sarita Singh in Rohtas Nagar. BB Tyagi has been named AAP candidate in Laxmi Nagar and Ram Singh Netaji in Badarpur. Zubair Chaudhary will be AAP’s candidate from Seelampur and Veer Singh Dhingan will contest in Seemapuri. Gaurav Sharma will contest in Ghonda and Manoj Tyagi has been picked as candidate in Karawal Nagar. Somesh Shaukeen will be AAP’s candidate from Matiala.
The 11-candidate list has six turncoats — three from the BJP and as many from the Congress.
This came a day after Kailash Gahlot, Delhi’s former Transport Minister and, till Sunday, one of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s senior-most leaders, crossed the aisle to join rivals Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Ministers ML Khattar and Harsh Malhotra. Mr Khattar had described Mr Gahlot’s induction as a “turning point”, especially before the February election.
