Work done in Sheila Dikshit’s tenure has come to a stop: Lilothia

Congress candidate from Mangol Puri Rajesh Lilothia talked to Millennium Post about the upcoming Delhi elections and what strategy Congress is going to adopt. From women's safety to development in his constituency, Lilothia feels the work that was done in late Sheila Dikshit's tenure has come to a stop. The candidate has also launched a women safety application that is functioning at the moment.

Nikita Jain of What issues Congress is focussing on, this election?

Delhi has witnessed the overall development, whether it was medical, education, transport, roads, we introduced Metro as well, which is one of Asia's best Metro. Every work of development, which was done in the last 15 years, during the time of Congress, under the then chief minister Sheila Dikshit ji, has stopped. There is no new development work, which has taken place in the last five years. The promises that Aam Aadmi Party made to the people, they have fulfilled that and it was just a political gimmick. And people have understood that AAP played with their emotions. All the promises that they made to the people have not been fulfilled and now these ‘aam' people have become ‘khaas' people. This is hurting the people. In Mangol Puri, these small flats are 25 metres, it was the vision of Indira Gandhi ji. If the people of Mangol Puri have a roof on their head, it is with the blessing of Indira Gandhi ji and they are thankful to her for that. I personally feel, people who have seen Congress doing the development work will again come back to the party and will realise they have committed a mistake by voting for AAP.

In Mangolpuri, who do you think is your closest rival?

These people are facing tough competition because people are looking for them. They are running after them asking them what happened to the promises made by these leaders. So, BJP and AAP are in no competition with Congress. People have realized that the false promises AAP made to them and they have not fulfilled, they are not happy with them.

In recent times, Delhi has witnessed a lot of violence in universities like JNU and Jamia. However, Congress has promised that CAA will not be implemented if they come to power. What is you take on that?

We stand with every citizen of this country who is a nationalist, who is an Indian. Every person who is a citizen of this country, no matter what caste, creed or community, it is the duty of Congress party to stand with them. The government is under the influence of the fundamentalist forces like RSS, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, who are trying to divide the country on the basis of caste, creed, colour and community. This is sad and Congress has always opposed it and is still opposing it.

What changes will you bring in Mangol Puri Constituency?

When people vote for you, they trust you. They have some hopes that you will respond to their calls, give a solution to their problems and you will continue to be connected with them. If the representatives disconnect themselves with the people that is the most disheartening thing. This is what the people are also feeling here that the present MLA, her behaviour is not good with the people and is full of arrogance and she misbehaves. I personally feel that is not good. If I come to power, I promise to the people this will not happen. Because I have the experience of being the MLA twice. People voted for me. I will ensure that the development work which has been stopped by this government, starts soon and gets completed. The extension of Metro till Mangol Puri was promised by Kejriwal, and I am sure this was vision of Sheila Dikshit ji. And it was our dream that all 70 constituencies are connected with Metro. We will ensure that.

Women safety is one major issue here, how you plan to tackle this?

For women security, I have introduced an app called ‘Indira Shakti'. The application will ask you for four numbers of your near and dear ones, who you want to contact in case of emergency you want to alert. The app is functioning and has touched almost 1 lakh people. So, in case of emergency if a woman is feeling unsafe she just has to shake her phone three to four times and the message with location will reach those four people. Also, a video will automatically start recording.