Sheila Dikshit said Gujarat has realised it hasn't experienced real development in 22 years of BJP rule
Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday asked if the claim of the ruling BJP in Gujarat of having undertaken a lot of development is correct then why was Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushing off to the state practically every other day to campaign.
Addressing the media in Gandhinagar, the former three-time Delhi chief minister said that the BJP has realised that people are in a mood to change the government and that's why PM Modi is paying frequent visits to the state.
She said after 22 years of BJP rule the people of Gujarat have now realized that they haven't experienced real development. Ms Dikshit said that the Congress is pretty confident of forming the government in Gujarat.
"Why does a so-busy Prime Minister Narendra Modi have to visit Gujarat every other day when they have carried out so many development works in the state as they are claiming?," she said
The senior Congress leader continued, "Look at the prices of commodities that have risen so sharply during the three-and-a half years of NDA rule. There has been sudden and steep hike in onion, tomato prices. When I was in Delhi, the Congress procured these commodities and availed it to the people at affordable prices."
Lambasting the BJP government for dilly-dallying on the Metro train project in the state, she said, "When I visited Gujarat 12 years ago, I had heard about the Metro project which was announced some years ago with much fanfare. What has happened to that? Is it running now? It is still more on paper than reality. We completed the Delhi Metro project as we had promised in due time. The Congress accomplished all of their promised tasks and that too in time during my 16 years of reign in Delhi."
Asked about the BJP alleging that the Congress was playing the caste card for the elections, she said, "Congress has never fought the elections on the basis of caste, it has been always development issues that the party has fought on -- real development, not false and so-called development, taking along every section of the society."
Asked about the loss in the local body elections in Uttar Pradesh, Ms Dikshit said, "We have not had a major loss as is being projected by some. Wait and watch, the full and entire results have not yet come out and until then we will just wait. It is also wrong that Congress has lost major elections after 2014."
To questions about apprehensions over the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), the former Chief Minister said, "Lots of people have raised their doubts about the EVMs. Now it is the onus of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to win the trust of the people, which has recently faltered."
She said that people of Gujarat have realised that the standard and quality of education in the state has "gone down the drain" since 22 years and they want it back.
Asked if the BJP has carried out development in the state as they claim, Ms Dikshit told IANS, "I don't think so. I think that there is so much potential in the state which could have been carried out if real development had happened. But our government if formed will do that, I am fully confident of that."