'Water bills will be waived within 15 days if..': Arvind Kejriwal makes 2024 poll promise
Arvind Kejriwal took a jibe at the ruling BJP saying that he should be given the Nobel Prize for running the government despite adverse conditions.
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday appealed to the voters of the national capital to vote for the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and make it win all the Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming parliamentary polls so that their voices can be heard in Parliament and inflated water bills are waived.
Read here: ‘I should get a Nobel prize for running govt in Delhi’: Arvind Kejriwal
While addressing the party workers at the protest organised by AAP against inflated water bills, Kejriwal made a poll promise and assured that all the water bills would be waived within 15 days of poll results if the INDIA bloc candidates were voted to power in Delhi.
"In the Lok Sabha elections, you should vote for INDIA bloc candidates from Delhi and send them to Parliament. This will create a protective shield around Delhi and no lieutenant governor will be able to do anything," the AAP national convenor said.
"I assure you that within 15 days of the Lok Sabha elections and the win of INDIA bloc candidates, your water bills will come down to zero," he added.
He also took a sharp jibe at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that he should be given the Nobel Prize for running the government despite adverse conditions.
“...They (BJP) tried to stop the construction of schools and hospitals in Delhi. They do not want the poor to get the same level of education as their children...Only I know, how am I running the government in Delhi, I should get a Nobel prize for this," he said.
He also attacked the Centre for obstructing the AAP government from implementing the one-time settlement of the pending water bills. Kejriwal said the government officials were not taking orders from the AAP government as they were scared of the Centre.
"We made a scheme to settle water bills. BJP people stopped the scheme through the LG. Officers are literally crying and saying they have been threatened with suspension if they bring the scheme to the Cabinet," Kejriwal alleged.
The AAP leader said there are around 11 lakh families who have received inflated water bills. He assured the people that he would implement the one-time settlement scheme for inflated water bills.
Meanwhile, as per the seat-sharing agreement between the Congress and the AAP announced for the upcoming parliamentary elections, both the parties agreed to jointly contest from Delhi, Haryana, Goa, Punjab and Gujarat.
Congress leader Mukul Wasnik in a joint press conference announced that the AAP will contest on four seats and the Congress on remaning three of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the national capital.
Read here: AAP, Congress announce alliance in Delhi, four other states
He said that the AAP will contest New Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi, and East Delhi seats in Delhi while Congress will contest North East, North West, and Chandni Chowk constituencies.
In 2019 polls, the BJP won all the seven seats, while the Congress came second in five seats — East Delhi, West Delhi, New Delhi, North East Delhi and Chandani Chowk — and the AAP came second in two seats — North West Delhi and South Delhi.
(With inputs from agencies)