BJP candidate Kamaljeet Sehrawat shares plans for West Delhi

Sehrawat, a former south Delhi mayor, wants to push the use of solar energy, augment water supply and carve out parks in the constituency

Kamaljeet Sehrawat, a former mayor of the erstwhile South Delhi municipal corporation and the incumbent councillor from a ward in Dwarka, spoke about issues in West Delhi and her priorities, if she wins from the parliamentary constituency. She says the pre-poll alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress will have no bearing on the outcome of the elections, and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party will retain the seat, by a bigger margin of votes. Excerpts from an interview with HT’s Jasjeev Gandhiok and Hemani Bhandari.

Kamaljeet Sehrawata (HT Photo)

There is an interesting mix of urban and rural voters in West Delhi. Do you have a separate plan for the two electorates?

Yes. There are separate plans for each colony. You cannot focus on one and leave out the other. I want to connect with youngsters in particular by raising local issues. Our focus on nationalism is helping us connect with a majority of people. We want to connect youngsters with the Safai Abhiyan too. In Switzerland, there is a concept of time bank in which youngsters dedicate their time to help people in their neighbourhood, particularly the elderly. I want to replace Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with Cultural Society Responsibility (CSR).

What is your vision for West Delhi and the key focus areas, if you win?

The constituency has villages, colonies and apartments in Dwarka. In an important decision, the Prime Minister transferred gram sabha land in villages to the DDA. Around ₹840 crore, earmarked for the development of villages in Delhi was lying unused since Sheila Dikshit’s tenure. These funds have now been transferred to DDA. The Centre gave another ₹400 crore, so over ₹1,200 crore is now available to develop these villages.

Of around 360 urban villages in Delhi, 76 are in West Delhi. After interacting with residents, I have prepared a blueprint for their development. Each village needs a beautiful park, sports facilities and old community halls need to be repaired.

In colonies, we will identify vacant land to develop it. The Centre has also come up with Pradhan Mantri Suryoday Yojana (PM Suryoday Yojana) which aims to provide subsidies to people to install solar panels. I want to popularise this scheme, not just in villages, but in apartments and colonies too. People will not only save on electricity bills, but also earn money by giving electricity back to the grid. I also want to develop a dedicated app for West Delhi, so people in the constituency can register their complaints. There are a lot of Central government policies that people are not aware about, so I want to open service centres in each ward in my constituency to raise awareness about these programmes.

What, according to you, are the most pertinent problems of West Delhi?

Parks are missing in many neighbourhoods, particularly in and around villages. Water supply too is a long-standing problem. We need two separate water lines – one for drinking water and the other for treated water from STPs for use in household work. We also need to stop the mushrooming growth of unauthorised colonies. We will reach out to the people and ensure planned housing for all.

You have been a mayor in the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), and an incumbent councillor. Will your experience help you in this election?

Let me tell you about my qualifications first. I have done BCom (Hons), MCom and BA. I was a PGT (postgraduate teacher) commerce in Kendriya Vidyalaya. I have also done LLB, CS (Inter) and PGDCA. I have travelled to several countries around the world also.

When I became the SDMC mayor in the MCD, my first priority was ensuring energy efficiency. I passed a proposal to replace all sodium lamps in street lights with energy-efficient LED lights. The MCD did not have funds, but I approached EESL and assured them payment in instalments. The work was completed in three months. This helped cut the civic body’s monthly expenditure on power from ₹18 crore to just ₹2 crore. The waste-to-wonder park at Sarai Kale Khan was also made under my tenure. It was a huge success. Now, we have made the Bharat Darshan Park at Punjabi Bagh on similar lines.

I also streamlined the process of issuing birth certificates by taking the process online. But nobody remembers these things. They only remember free electricity.

Opposition has often said that the BJP’s politics is centred around religion. Do you agree?

We do focus on religion, but that does not mean we disrespect other religions. We respect every religion out there. If we believe in a particular religion, it does not mean we cannot celebrate it. I am quite clear on celebrating my own religion.

What are your thoughts on your opponent Mahabal Mishra?

My education is quite different from his. I can read my own files. Secondly, I know what I want to achieve. My waste-to-wonder park project, energy savings projects. As a mayor, I was able to showcase my leadership and my vision. He claims he brought the Metro to West Delhi, but it was anyway planned. Could we have done more? Last-mile connectivity is still missing and one has to shell out at least ₹100 to move from one place in Dwarka to another. If he had 30 wards under him as an MP, I had 104 wards as a mayor.

Barring Manoj Tiwari, the remaining six BJP sitting MPs have been replaced this time. The opposition says this shows the MPs did not work. What’s your view on this?

I want to ask the opposition, where are your candidates for the same seats? Even you have not chosen the same candidates that lost. We are replacing winners. People belonging to the Congress are now fighting for the AAP, so what vision does the opposition have? Till last year, the Congress and the AAP were hurling abuses at each other and now they claim to be partners. There is no ideology. The country needs strong leadership and someone who has a vision.

The AAP and the Congress have put up a common candidate. Will it make a tougher fight?

No. They will lose by an even bigger margin this time. How can you have an alliance with a party that does not have the same vision as you? Next year, there will assembly elections. Will they have an alliance at the state-level again? No. Their booth-level workers know that both parties don’t have a common vision and this [the alliance] has only been done for survival. You can add 5% votes to BJP’s tally. I can guarantee that their combined vote share will be down by 5%.