Anticipating a bipolar contest between the ruling Congress and his party, the Delhi CM said BJP is politically irrelevant in the state while speaking at a karyakarta sammelan in Raipur. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also in attendance.
Sending out a strong message that the party remains unperturbed by the arrests of its top leader and would continue to expand its electoral footprints outside of Delhi and Punjab, AAP leader and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced the decision to contest Chattisgarh elections that is due in six months. Anticipating a bipolar contest between the ruling Congress and his party, the Delhi CM said BJP is politically irrelevant in the state while speaking at a karyakarta sammelan in Raipur. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also in attendance.
Giving the example of Delhi and Punjab models, Kejriwal and Mann made a pitch for bringing better education, health facilities, free electricity, clean water and creating job opportunities in the state. “Today I have come to Chhattisgarh to tell the people that it is only an AAP government that can provide good education to your children. Our government has done this in Delhi and Punjab and therefore we can say this from our experience. In Punjab, in less than one year, Sardar Bhagwant Mann’s government has provided jobs to 27,790 people. In Delhi, we have provided over 12 lakh jobs. But in Chhattisgarh in the last five years, not a single government job has been provided by this government. Therefore if the people here want jobs to be created for their children, then they should vote for AAP,” said Kejriwal.
The event was attended by thousands of people from different parts of the state.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that his party is all set to contest the state elections in Chhattisgarh scheduled this year. He said the AAP would become the main opposition before the ruling Congress as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is nowhere in the state.
He also said that Chhattisgarh is a state which produces electricity that is given to the rest of the nation. But the electricity provided to the people here is very expensive. “When electricity is made here, why is it not given for free to the people who reside in this state?,” Kejriwal asked. The CM added that if an AAP government is formed in the state, electricity will be provided for free to the residents here.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, he said that Dr. Raman Singh has not been seen for a while now. This has made it clear that the BJP is nowhere in sight and therefore the direct contest this time around is between the Congress and AAP, he said.
He added that the state can only progress if the people utilise their vote well. He said that Congress and the BJP have over the years ruined the state, and therefore the people need to use their vote well this time around and vote for AAP.
At the same time, Bhagwant Mann said that AAP has not come to make any false promises and raise false slogans. “We have not even come to say we will deposit Rs 15 lakh each in your accounts. We have come only to tell the truth to the public. I do not know whether the achhe din will come or not, but sachche din of the people of Punjab and Delhi have definitely come,” he said.
Drawing parallels between Chhattisgarh and Punjab he said that the situation in Chhattisgarh today is exactly the same as it was in Punjab till a year back. “Five years of Akali Dal-BJP government and five years of Congress government, people had no choice. Both parties used to loot people together. The British gave us slavery for 200 years together, BJP and Congress are giving us slavery in installments of five years each.”
He added that Chhattisgarh is infested by the rail mafia, mining mafia, transport mafia, corruption, and exorbitant electricity bills. “The same problems were there in Punjab a year ago. There is only one solution to all these problems, that you all bring an honest government,” he said.
Mann said that the Aam Aadmi Party is just 11 years old, and it has become a National Party. “AAP has a government in two states. AAP has MLAs in Gujarat and Goa and 10 Rajya Sabha members from Punjab and Delhi. AAP is the strongest and fastest political startup in the country. And it is time Chhatisgarh votes for AAP and gets freedom from this network of mafia,” he said.