BJP leader says free power, water schemes will continue if party wins Delhi polls

New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) The BJP will continue the free electricity and water supply schemes and bus rides for women instituted by the current AAP dispensation if it assumes power in Delhi, chairman of the party's manifesto committee Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said on Monday.

Reacting to the development, AAP said if the BJP "even mistakenly comes to power in Delhi", it would end the schemes for free electricity and bus travel for women.

"The BJP previously opposed both these schemes of the AAP government and has been unable to provide free electricity and free bus travel in any of the 20 states its governs," AAP said in a statement.

Bidhuri said in a press conference that the party would start the exercise of gathering public feedback for the manifesto through meetings with various sections of society from Thursday.

He said AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and other party leaders were trying to "mislead" the public, spreading "false propaganda" that the BJP would stop the free schemes if it formed the government in Delhi.

"After the BJP's victory in the assembly elections due in February, free facilities such as 200 units of electricity, 20,000 litres of water and bus travel for women will continue," Bidhuri said in a statement.

These facilities will be provided in a better way and a decision will also be taken to implement the Ayushman Bharat health scheme in the first Cabinet meeting of a BJP government, he said.

The senior BJP leader claimed that 40 per cent of the people in Delhi did not have access to clean water and added that around 2,500 of the 7,500 samples collected by the Delhi Jal Board had failed.

He further claimed that despite the Delhi government subsidy, "unreasonable" surcharges on electricity rates were Rs 9 per unit for domestic and Rs 17-18 for commercial consumers.

Responding to the charge, AAP said the BJP made tall promises before polls but, once in power, it dismissed those as "electoral jumlas".

"If the BJP is copying our schemes and claiming it will deliver the same services as AAP did, why would the people of Delhi settle for a duplicate? They will choose the original Arvind Kejriwal, who has already proven he delivers what he promises," AAP asserted.

Bidhuri released an email id, phone number and the #bjpsankalp2025 hashtag, inviting suggestions for the manifesto.

He said the meetings with various sections of society would be held at the assembly constituency and district levels for which senior leaders had been appointed as in-charges.

Members of the manifesto committee were given charges for various Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi -- Parvesh Verma (Chandni Chowk), Arvinder Singh Lovely (New Delhi), Satish Upadhyay (East Delhi), Ajay Mahawar (North East Delhi), Kailash Gahlot and Abhishek Tandon (South Delhi) and former Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel (North West Delhi).

Former Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi will look after the overall coordination of various activities to gather public feedback for the manifesto, Bidhuri said.

Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February.

Bidhuri said video vans would be deployed in each of the 14 districts to gather public feedback. The BJP's Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva will flag off the video vans on Saturday. PTI