NEW DELHI: Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday announced that he would be visiting poll-bound Goa to have a debate with his Goa counterpart Nilesh Cabral. “In an interview, Cabral challenged me for a debate on the AAP model of electricity. I accept his challenge and will be there in Goa on next Monday,” Jain said.
It is not the first time that the Delhi Cabinet ministers are going for ‘debates’ in states where the AAP intends to expand its footprint. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has announced providing free power up to a certain limit to all the residents living in these states, including Punjab and Uttarakhand, if his party is voted to power.
The AAP is on full swing to contest the next year’s elections in Goa. Arvind Kejriwal had announced his guarantees to combat the “deplorable electricity” situation in Goa. Earlier, party spokesperson Raghav Chaddha also challenged Cabral for a debate on power structure of the coastal state.
There seems to be a clear thoughtful strategy regarding the challenge as last year as well Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia went to the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for similar ‘debates’ on schools.
In response, Cabral dared to debate the merits of the Delhi power tariff model versus the one in Goa.
“I welcome the debate challenge put forward by Jain. We will be hosting a public debate on Monday at 3 pm,” Cabral told a news agency. “The Aam Aadmi Party is making such announcements with an eye on the Goa Assembly polls. Iwill expose their agenda in the debate.”
Prior to Goa, Kejriwal announced that if the AAP wins election, the government willprovide electricity up to 300 units in Uttarakhand. Sisodia had accepted Uttarakhand cabinet minister Madan Kaushik’s open challenge regarding the work done in school education. As the campaigning takes pace with the elections coming near, these challenges from the AAP ministers and party functionaries will only increase in the coming months, say political observers.
Stakes high for Kejriwal
In the 2017 election, the AAP had fared poorly having drawn a blank with many of its candidates forfeiting their deposits. The party that has been trying to spread its base across the country had bagged 6.27 per cent votes. It had ended up cutting the votes of the Congress as well in the process