NEW DELHI: The demonstrations against ‘huge’ power bills organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi on Friday caused ripples of protest within the outfit as a section of senior party leaders criticised the state leadership for poor handling of the event, which was being touted as ‘Bijli Jan Andolan’.
The Delhi BJP had planned protests at offices of power distribution companies (discoms) in 70 constituencies across the city demanding relief for consumers from ‘huge’ power bills being sent to them for the lockdown period.
The protest at Gole Market in New Delhi assembly constituency which was represented by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal falls under New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). The protest was cancelled in the eleventh hour after the organizers of the event realized their folly for scheduling the demonstration in the council’s jurisdiction, which functions under the ministry of home affairs.
Former union minister Vijay Goel was supposed to lead the Gole Market protest. He, however, didn’t participate in the agitation at any other location.
“The state leadership managed to evade embarrassment in the nick of time. The programme was marred with a series of mismanagement. Two former Delhi BJP chiefs – Satish Upadhyay and Vijender Gupta were not informed about the programme on time. The analogy — high average bills with fixed charges of lockdown period being projected as ‘mahaghotala’ (major scam) has upset some senior leaders. It shows lack of political acumen,” said a Delhi BJP leader.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashok Goel confirmed that the Gole Market event was cancelled as the area falls under the jurisdiction of the NDMC.
Vijay Goel said he hadn’t attended the protest as he was informed that it was cancelled. However, other Delhi BJP leaders including party MPs participated in the protest across the city according to the schedule except northwest Delhi MP Hansraj Hans.
Referring to a last-minute invitation to Vijender, another senior Delhi BJP functionary said that he was asked to join Delhi BJP president Adesh Kumar Gupta at Malviya Nagar, when the protest was about to begin.
Ravinder Gupta, general secretary, Delhi BJP, said that the protests were held successfully across the city and there was no dispute among party leaders. “Vijender attended the demonstration at Malviya Nagar with party chief Adesh Gupta,” he said.