In Bawana, Kejriwal trains guns on BJP

The CM said none of these would be repeated if Delhiites elect Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday took on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the increase in metro fares, sealing of commercial establishments and alleged stalling of the Delhi government’s projects and deletion of voters from electoral rolls.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (Samir Jana/HT Photo)

The CM said none of these would be repeated if Delhiites elect Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking at the launch of development works in 11 unauthorised colonies in Bawana assembly constituency, Kejriwal, convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), declared Guggan Singh as the party’s candidate from the northwest Delhi parliamentary seat. He is in-charge of the Lok Sabha seat.

Kejriwal had already announced Atishi as AAP’s candidate from East Delhi and Raghav Chadha from South Delhi.

“From now, you must go to every street to tell people PM Modi is harmful for Delhi. Vote for Guggan Singh. If the Centre doesn’t do your work, then he will begin a hunger strike in Parliament,” Kejriwal said, referring to his nine-day hunger strike at the lieutenant-governor’s office last year.

“If you make AAP win in all seven seats of Delhi in the general elections, then we won’t let the sealing drive and metro fare hikes happen again. We will get all files cleared from the centre,” he said.

The CM said the Delhi government’s decision to legalise unauthorised colonies had been pending with the Centre for four years as Satyendar Jain, the urban development minister, had sent a proposal on it four months after taking charge in 2015.

“In the last four years, regularisation of unauthorised colonies did not happen. However, in the past one year, the Delhi government has started buildings drains and laying sewer lines and roads,” he said.

Reaching out to Purvanchalis, Kejriwal said the BJP got 30 lakh voters deleted from Delhi’s electoral rolls. “They did the same in Telangana when elections were due. In Delhi, names of 15 lakh voters who migrated from UP-Bihar, eight lakh Muslims, four lakh from the Baniya caste and three lakh others – have been deleted. I will make your voter ID cards before the elections, but do not betray me by voting for BJP,” he said.

In the Bawana project launched on Tuesday, the government said 172 lanes and 344 drains would be constructed in 11 colonies at a cost of Rs 22 crore. The total length of the lanes will be 21 kilometres while that of drains will be 42 kms. Work is set to begin next month and will be completed in August this year, the government said.