The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today said that Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Goel's promise to withdraw electricity subsidy if voted to power shows its "anti-people" and "anti-poor" face which always works to end schemes that benefit the poor.
According to a report, Vijay Goel has said: "The BJP will not give subsidy but create such an environment that electricity is cheaper."
The BJP has made it clear that it does not support the schemes launched by the Delhi government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to give free electricity up to 200 units, said AAP leader Sanjay Singh.
"The BJP is always anti-poor and anti-people. They always try to finish the benefits given to people," he said.
"I want to ask the BJP leaders that have they ever given any benefit in terms of education, health, electricity or water for the people in the states they are in power? But the BJP has waived Rs 5.5 lakh crore loan of industrialists in the last five years. The BJP has also allowed Rs 10.50 lakh crore as NPAs (non-performing assets) by banks to industrialists which have devastated the banks. Lastly, to manage this situation, the BJP has taken 1.76 lakh crore from the RBI," the Rajya Sabha MP said.
The AAP-led government had announced free electricity up to 200 units for domestic consumers and later extended the scheme to tenants residing in the city.
Mr Singh said Vijay Goel as a Rajya Sabha MP gets 5,000 units of electricity free per month, which makes 60,000 free units per year.
"But when the AAP government gives 200 units of free electricity to poor people, the BJP opposes it," he said.
The BJP says that Arvind Kejriwal is bringing these schemes to buy the votes of people, the AAP leader alleged. "The BJP says by giving security to women, by improving education and health, by giving electricity and water subsidy or by installing CCTV cameras, the AAP is trying to buy votes, which shows how anti-poor and anti-people mindset BJP has," said Mr Singh.
AAP party spokesperson Raghav Chadha also hit out at the BJP, saying these comments should be treated as a "desperate and patently anti-poor" BJP announcements that it will fight the upcoming Delhi assembly elections on the agenda of electricity "subsidy wapsi".
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