‘Development missing from BJP’s poll pitch’
The debate on wealth redistribution is “entirely foolish” but a caste census is the imperative of the day for reservation to be recalibrated, said Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday. In an interview with
and the Maratha stalwart, who has been campaigning tirelessly in the 10 seats his party is contesting in alliance with the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT), also spoke about the future of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc post June 4. Disparate parties, he emphasised, must set aside differences after the elections to save parliamentary democracy. these crises and talking about wealth redistribution. ment can change this by twothirds majority and we can provide relief to the weaker sections.
I accept that they have succeeded in breaking the two parties and they could do it because they are at the Centre, but it’s also because Narendra Modi’s thinking is different. Had Atal Bihari Vajpayee been in power, he would not have done such a thing.
The younger generation in my party is more aggressively against those who have gone with the BJP. Except for his immediate family, no one else in my family is supporting them.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded its Kondli legislator
from the East Delhi parliamentary constituency. The son of a sanitation worker, Kumar first met Arvind Kejriwal during the India Against Corruption movement in 2012 and has been associated with the AAP since its inception. He spoke to
and about law and order, the Ghazipur landfill, and excise policy case.
In East Delhi, the biggest problem is that of law and order. We can see youngsters abusing drugs… instances of murder, molestation and rape cases are also high in our constituency. It is important for me to bring back a sense of safety among people. The MP is part of a district-level committee on law and order, but this panel has met very few times over the last five years, and incumbent MP Gautam Gambhir (from the BJP) hardly ever attended it. The Ghazipur landfill site also comes under the East Delhi area and our government in the state has worked a lot towards reducing it, which I will take forward. My priority will be to be available for my people as their son and brother, and bridge this gap between people and their MP. to stop our campaign. However, this has backfired.
The BJP announced its candidates about a month ago, but it is still organising introductory meetings. It is surprising that a person who is active among people needs so much introduction. If you do a survey, you will realise that nobody even knows the BJP candidate. Interestingly, he was a councillor from northeast Delhi and is contesting from east Delhi. This means that they could not find any local leader.
This election is being fought on very different grounds. It is a fight to save the Constitution and this country. So, it is not my fight or theirs. We all have same goal.
Harsh Malhotra boasts of 34 years of experience in politics. The former councillor and EDMC mayor is a general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit. Malhotra says he is from East Delhi and knows the problems in the area. In an interview to and the BJP candidate from East Delhi says that he will ensure the benefits of the central schemes reach the electorate in the region.
Since I was the mayor from East Delhi, I am aware of the problems and issues in this parliamentary constituency. Many landmark development works have taken place here due to the efforts of the central government. For example, the construction of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway helped ease traffic congestion in the area as well as decrease pollution. The Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) and the Akshardham-Dehradun expressway, which is nearly 70% complete, are also in East Delhi.
I am of the view that all jhuggi clusters in the East Delhi constituency should be rehabilitated under the “Jahan Jhuggi, Wahin Makan” scheme of the central government. In the Dilshad Garden area, 4,000 flats should be built in place of three slums – Kalandar Colony, Deepak Colony and Dilshad Vihar – under the scheme. The notification for the project was issued just before the elections were announced. This project will start immediately after the elections.
Cleaning the Yamuna, which is our cultural heritage and associated with our religious sentiments, is another priority for me. Unfortunately, the Delhi government has done corruption in the name of cleaning the Yamuna. The central government released ₹3,000 crore to them. The government did not use them for Yamuna rejuvenation as the river is still polluted.
With the help of the central government, one university has come up in east Delhi. I plan to get a big central hospital constructed in this area. It would be a longterm project, but it will be achieved.
It will be wrong to say that is a sympathy wave for Kejriwal or his party due to his arrest. The liquor policy that they (the AAP) formulated and implemented was later withdrawn. If the policy was fair, why did they withdraw it? He (Kejriwal) is arrested because of his own deeds. He evaded eight ED summonses since October. If he was innocent, why did he not appear before ED? The public is aware that he is involved in a corruption, so he won’t get any sympathy.
If I talk about the Congress, it is a party whose ancestors sacrificed themselves for the freedom of India. But the same party has fielded Kanhaiya Kumar, who nationalist credentials are questionable. Internally, the party is not in support of AAP.
The volunteers of the Congress are unhappy and some even expressed their anger against the nomination of Udit Raj and Kanhaiya Kumar through a recent protest.