SHIMLA: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday threw down the gauntlet to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the home turf of Union minister Anurag Thakur ahead of the Himachal Pradesh polls.
Highlighting the education system in Delhi, where his party is in power, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo told the people that if they want to secure the future of their children then they should join hands with their party. Kejriwal was addressing a rally in Hamirpur, which is represented by Thakur in Lok Sabha since the 2008 by-elections.
“Few private schools in Delhi were reluctant to waive off the fee of students in COVID era. I came to know that they had fixed deposits starting from 50 crores. I made those FDs liquidate to compensate the fees of the students,” Kejriwal said in his speech.
AAP had named the event an education conclave where students and academicians were invited to interact with the AAP leaders.
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Taking aim at BJP and Congress, Kejriwal said they should seek votes on health or education issues not on the basis of castes or scams. The Delhi CM said that more than eight lakh kids are studying in government schools in Himachal Pradesh but there are many schools that lack teachers and basic amenities.
“I can challenge other parties to seek votes on the basis of providing education and health facilities,” he said.
On the recent move of the BJP to distribute laptops to the students, Kejriwal said that these laptops were much-needed during the COVID era. But now this is being done with vote bank politics in mind.
Reiterating the sentiment, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, who was accompanying Kejriwal, said that AAP wants to empower the children of Himachal Pradesh to chase their dream. Mann added that AAP wants the children to be employers of the future and not job seekers. “Youths of this hill state have enough talent to explore any great idea of this world,” he added.
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AAP’s fortunes in the state were jolted after its tallest leader in the state Col (retd) Ajay Kothial left the party to join BJP last month. The arrest of senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, who was looking after the affairs of the party in the state, by ED in a money laundering case only complicated the matters for the party.
But by targeting both BJP and Congress from the home turf of Thakur, AAP showed a renewed vigour in their hope to regain the lost ground in the Himalayan state.