With Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann by his side, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal – literally shrouded in patriotic colours – on Monday blew the party’s poll bugle in Rajasthan by taking out a Tiranga rally in capital Jaipur.
Kejriwal, AAP’s first CM in the country, started his yatra from the iconic Sanganeri Gate to the Ajmeri Gate near Bapu Bazaar in the pink city.
Chief minister Kejriwal, who is fighting the BJP’s Central government over the arrests of his two ministers in what he calls “fake” cases, pitched for an honest government in Rajasthan.
In his address, the AAP chief highlighted “misrule” by the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP in the last three decades in the state.
Hitting out at both parties for running the state government in “an alliance”, Kejriwal said that a vote for either party eventually boils down and brings the same problems for the people.
He said that it is a “Vasundhara Raje-Ashok Gehlot” government in Rajasthan and they loot the government exchequer one after the other.
Sharing his vision for the state, the AAP convenor said, “BJP and Congress have forgotten the public, the model of Delhi and Punjab now needs to be brought to Rajasthan. Rajasthan too can get brilliant schools and hospitals. You just need to vote AAP to power.”
Highlighting that the Congress has been in power in Rajasthan for 48 years and BJP for 18 years since Independence, Kejriwal said that there still exists massive poverty and issues such as farmer suicides are on the rise.
He highlighted other key issues faced by the people of the state such as high unemployment, high inflation and paper leaks in government exams. He urged the people to vote for AAP this time around for a change and promised to bring the development that can be seen in Delhi and Punjab.
He said that both the BJP and the Congress have been alternatively in power since 1993 in the state and have further looted the public and made the lives of citizens miserable.
“When the BJP is in power, the leaders of the Congress party scream about corruption and the people vote for the Congress hoping that they will punish the corrupt BJP leaders. But after that nothing happens. The BJP government has never arrested a single Congress leader over allegations of corruption in the state and vice versa. Both parties have an understanding between them and they loot the public together,” he added.
In his address, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann highlighted AAP’s track record of success in wiping out corruption and bringing development to the people. He sought to remind people how AAP had wiped out Congress in two consecutive elections in Delhi and reduced the BJP to a paltry two seats in the Punjab elections a year back.
The senior AAP leader also lashed back at the “BJP’s mischaracterization of AAP’s promises as revadi (freebies)”. “These services for the people are not for free but are paid for by the taxes collected from the people,” he added.
He asserted that the BJP and Congress are scared of AAP’s model because they cannot tolerate the poor of this country experiencing improved quality of life under AAP governments.
Mann questioned the BJP’s performance on its own previous election promises, including reducing price rise, creating 2 crore jobs per year, and depositing 15 lakh rupees in every bank account.