NEW DELHI: Exuding confidence of victory in the Assembly elections, Delhi Congress president Subhash Chopra claims his party is recovering lost ground and poll results will spring a surprise.
Why should Delhi vote for Congress? What is your party offering to city residents?
We will be coming out with our manifesto in another three-four days, spelling out all reliefs that we are going to offer.
That will also include our vision for the capital, which we governed for 15 years. But I have already announced two-three schemes like relief on electricity up to 600 units, for small shopkeepers 200 units will be free, and also farmers will get free power to run tube wells.
Our major focus is on water. CM Arvind Kejriwal had announced 20,000-litre free water per month, which was without any survey of demand conducted by the government. As there maybe eight or four people in a family and some houses remain closed, consumption is less or on some occasions is nil. This ‘extra’ water under the quota of free scheme goes to tanker mafia, which charges five times more from the buyers. Free drinking water scheme is the biggest scandal in Delhi.
Do you have a plan to conserve water?
During our tenure in Delhi, we used to do water harvesting. We had made it mandatory for every house, which was built later. Kejriwal has done nothing in the last five years for water conservation. We will return cash to those who save water from their quota of 20,000 litres of free water. We will give 30 paisa for each litre saved by the consumers. The money will go into their account directly. The cashback scheme plans to encourage people to conserve water.
What else will be there in your party manifesto?
The Congress will give Rs 5,000 to senior citizen under a scheme to be named after former chief minister Sheila Dikshit. We want people to serve their parents and don’t want to send them to old age homes. Suppose, a family gets Rs 10,000 for parents, it can use Rs 5,000 for their medicines and other medial requirements. The remaining amount can be spent on education of the children. Then, the family head is bound to serve his parents.
On which front has the AAP failed miserably?
The AAP government is boasting about its success in health and education sector. As per the information received through RTIs, the government couldn’t spend 46 % budget in both sectors. The Congress government had built big hospitals in the city.
We had also taken permission for constructing 27 new hospitals. The proposals were also given go-ahead by the Cabinet. However, no single hospital was built in last five years. Kejriwal speaks highly about the transformation of hospitals and the health sector by setting up of mohalla clinics. My question is then why he went to a private hospital last year for his treatment where the bill was Rs 12.5 lakh. Deputy CM Sisodia spent Rs 11 Lakh on his treatment.
If government hospitals are so good, then what is the need to go to private hospitals?
Last year, the government shut 18 OTs in government hospitals. It means something.
Mohalla clinics are in a shambles; being used by gamblers and also served as cow-sheds.
This government has built only a few classrooms in schools and is bragging about them. Kejriwal promised 500 new schools but only six schools have come up so far. Classroom construction is also a scam. The government should tell why 1,80,000 students have left the schools.
If hospitals and schools are not good, then do you think Kejriwal is good at publicity?
Yes, he is the master in that game. Kejriwal’s publicity budget is worth several crores. If I give him 100 marks ever, it is for this skill— publicity stunt. This could have been used on projects of public interest and Delhi’s development. We could have saved the city from deterioration in the last five years. Kejriwal could have used this amount on maintenance of infrastructure, which the Congress government had left six years ago. BJP and AAP have started very aggressive campaigns. Their top leaders are addressing multiple rallies daily. No senior Congress leader is visible on the roads
Wherever we go the people are coming in large numbers. Amit Shah’s meetings are witnessing low attendance. The BJP is not able to pull the crowd. This is an achievement for us because Congress was being underestimated. It was said that the Congress is nowhere to be seen. They are now talking about us. A day before the polling in Haryana, a news channel predicted three seats for us but we got 31. This will be repeated in Delhi too.
It is said that Congress and AAP have the same vote share. What are you doing to wrest it?
AAP is the creation of BJP. 90% of those who joined the agitation at Jan Lokpal agitation at Ramlila Maidan were RSS volunteers. Some of them were genuine, who wanted Jan Lokpal... But tell me who were the AAP founder members? And, where are they now? AAP is B team of BJP. They had sent Kiran Bedi, Anupam Kher, and General VK Singh to the Ramlila agitation. Had Kejriwal been interested in Jan Lokpal, he would have been after the BJP for passage of the Bill.
What is your party’s stand on CAA?
Our stand is very clear since the beginning. We opposed the Bill in Parliament and outside the House. Delhi Congress also took a stand against it and held a protest. AAP is playing a drama on CAA protest. Sisodia broke his silence after 40 days. Kejriwal was also silent on Jamia and JNU incidents. He is not speaking on CAA and not for the people of Shaheen Bagh. It all shows that Kerjiwal is not worried about Delhi. He is only concerned about to remain in power with the help of BJP.
Amid the allegation of nepotism, Congress has given tickets to children of senior party leaders...
You can straightaway direct this question at me because my daughter Shivani is contesting from Kalkaji. Let me explain. Shivani has done graduation and masters in law from London. She travelled to various countries with Martin Luther King Junior to study youth affairs. She went to meet students in Jamia and JNU when they were brutally attacked.
What do you expect from a highly education person?
Don’t you want a well-education person to join politics? Is it her fault that she is my daughter? She went to Karnataka during elections as part of the AICC research team. We need such people in politics. Other children of party leaders, who have been nominated by Congress, have been with the women wing of the party.