Congress promises to have national, state outlook

In an effort to regain lost glory, the Congress party will look to highlight state and national promises — from increasing pension and providing further relief on

In an effort to regain lost glory, the Congress party will look to highlight state and national promises — from increasing pension and providing further relief on electricity bills, to the implementation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC), National Population Register (NPR) and the amended Citizenship Act.

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Delhi Congress chief Subash Chopra on Tuesday said that one of the primary promises of the party will be to implement a “Sheila Pension Yojana”.

The scheme, after former three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit who died last year, proposes to increase the pension to senior citizens, widows and differently abled people to ₹5,000 per month.

“Delhi’s chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) had recently said that he will make more senior citizen homes. But we are saying that it is the responsibility of children to look after their parents and if the pension amount is increased, this will be an income for the family and an incentive for children to look after their parents,” Chopra said.

He added that apart from increasing the pension amount, the cap of 530,000 —the number of elderly and poor people that the Delhi government can support with a pension—will also be increased to 750,000 people.

Another poll promise that the Congress party is swearing by in the national capital is providing relief on electricity up to 600 units for residential connections. The party has also said that small businesses will also be provided subsidies up to 200 units.

“Unlike the Kejriwal government, which has been using public money to benefit the power discoms, we will give relief to consumers up to 600 units. If the Congress comes to power, we will transfer the subsidy directly into the bank accounts of consumers. This will be a major part of our manifesto in the upcoming elections,” Delhi Congress spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said.

Senior party leaders also said that Congress’s open support for protests against a pan-India NRC, NPR and CAA will also help them rebuild their image, especially in the minority areas.

A senior Congress leader said that former MLAs and the party’s leadership in the state has been attending all the protests by students of Jamia Milia Islamia University and the residents of Shaheen Bagh, Okhla and Jamia Nagar and have also been meeting victims of police brutality.

“All this does have an impact. People are watching that while senior Congress leaders are standing with the students against the police, the Kejriwal government is choosing the easy way of silence. Why did the CM not condemn the attacks and pay any visits to students who were brutally attacked?,” the Congress leader said.