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Will focus on making Delhi world-class city: Ramvir Singh Bidhuri

By, Alok KN Mishra
Jan 24, 2025 05:58 AM IST

BJP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri discusses election promises, including free buses, hospitals, and water supply improvements, aiming to win 50 seats in Delhi.

BJP’s South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri is the convener of the party’s election manifesto committee for the Delhi elections. In an interview with HT, he talks about the upcoming election promises, the party’s stance on freebies and how they are expected to fare in the polls. Edited excerpts:

Ramvir Singh Bidhuri. (ANI)
Ramvir Singh Bidhuri. (ANI)

What can we expect in the third part of the BJP’s manifesto?

The manifesto committee of the Delhi BJP, which I chair, received feedback from people that all public buses in Delhi should be made free for four months between October to January. This will help improve air quality as people will be encouraged to leave their private vehicles at home and use public buses. This will reduce congestion, and tackle pollution levels in winter. The manifesto committee has forwarded this suggestion to the central leadership of the BJP. It remains to be seen if this will be in the third part of the manifesto. We will ensure 10,000 electric buses ply in Delhi and will focus on making Delhi a world-class city.

Arvind Kejriwal promised to develop the streets of Delhi like those in London and Paris, but he has failed to do so. The other thing we will likely mention in the manifesto is developing Delhi’s roads like national highways such as the Mumbai-Vadodara connecting highway or the Delhi-Dehradun expressway. Delhi’s damaged roads add to its pollution problem, and we will fix it.

In the last 10 years, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government couldn’t build even one hospital or college in Delhi. We will add more hospitals with the help of the Centre. We are also promising to develop at least one new college in each district, and new schools will be developed on 17 plots provided by the Delhi Development Authority.

Even though 8,500 crore has been provided to Delhi for cleaning the Yamuna, not a single new sewage treatment plant (STP) has been developed by the AAP. We will develop 18 STPs. Even a little bit of rain leads flooding in Delhi. Delhi’s drainage system will be overhauled with the cooperation of the lieutenant governor and the CM if we come to power.

Kejriwal has repeatedly said that if the BJP comes to power, all the welfare schemes in Delhi will be stopped.

This is completely false.These schemes don’t belong a person. They have been started by the government of Delhi, and whoever forms the government will carry forward these schemes. On January 5, the Prime Minister clarified the party’s stand (at a rally in Rohini) and Union home minister Amit Shah did the same at the meeting he had held with representatives of the JJ clusters. Our party president, JP Nadda also stated while releasing the manifesto that these schemes will continue. The top BJP leaders have constantly clarified that the existing public welfare schemes will be further strengthened and made more effective by weeding out corruption.

How will the BJP improve these schemes?

More people will benefit from these schemes when we come to power. For instance, the surcharge on electricity bills will be removed, and that will significantly bring down tariffs. We will increase the water supply in Delhi, as it will come from Himachal Pradesh.

We will store the additional water during monsoons through two barragesnear Wazirabad. We will provide 20,000 litre of free water with a minimum guarantee of eight hours of water supply per day.

Women have to wait long hours to catch a bus, and we will reduce that wait time by adding 10,000 electric DTC buses with the help of the Centre. As of now, there are only 2,500 DTC buses on the roads, which are also outdated. If we come to power, people will have to wait for less than 10 minutes for a bus.

AAP claims that all the BJP has aped all their schemes. Why then should people vote for the BJP?

AAP is lying. Is the AAP giving 21,000 as financial assistance to pregnant women? Is it giving 2,500 monthly to poor women? AAP promised to give 1,000 to women in Punjab, but in the last three years of the AAP coming to power in Punjab, it has not given allowances to a single woman there. In 2024, they promised to give 1,000 per month to the women in Delhi, but they haven’t given a single rupee yet. We have not copied AAP’s work. They could not fulfil their promises; BJP will do it.

Your party has opposed the concept of freebies by saying that it negatively impacts the budget of the Delhi government. How will the BJP arrange the budget to fund so many schemes?

The AAP government slid into deficit because they were neck-deep in corruption. They brought a new excise policy with the aim to increase the excise revenue from 6,000 crore to 10,000 crore per annum, but the policy led to a loss of 3,000 crore excise revenue instead. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) which was in profit, landed into a deficit due to corruption. The BJP government will not step into corruption because of PM Narendra Modi there... No one (in BJP) can even dare to conduct any corrupt practices. We will provide clean administration which will lead to an an increase in resources.

How do you think the BJP will fare in the upcoming elections?

BJP will win around 50 seats in the assembly elections due to two reasons. One, Arvind Kejriwal has been repeatedly saying that the LG is not letting them work, and the people think that if he comes back to power, the problem will persist, so why vote for them. Two, the people of Delhi think that Kejriwal has turned Delhi into a hell while promising to make it a world-class city. He has looted Delhi. People want to give an opportunity to Narendra Modi to save Delhi. Only Narendra Modi can make Delhi a world-class city.

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Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.
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