AAP threatens protest if neighbouring Harayana ‘fails to check crime’

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders cornered the Haryana government on Monday over increasing crime in the state and termed the government’s recent announcement of reducing power tariff an eyewash

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders cornered the Haryana government on Monday over increasing crime in the state and termed the government’s recent announcement of reducing power tariff an eyewash. They said that crime, especially against women, was increasing and they would stage protests if the situation did not improve.

Aam Aadmi Party Gurugram District President Mahesh Yadav(L) along with others members during a press conference, at Shama restaurant, Civil Line area, in Gurugram, India, on Monday, September 17, 2018. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

In a press conference held here, AAP Gurugram district president Mahesh Yadav said that the recent gang rape in Rewari was a blot on the state’s reputation and the state government had failed to check increasing crime. “Capital punishment should be given to the gang rape accused. If the AAP forms government in Haryana, it will bring stricter laws to reign in such incidents,” Yadav said.

He attacked the government over the police’s failure to arrest a man accused of killing four people of a family, including a one-year-old girl, in Brijpura village of Pataudi on August 29. “The police should tell us when they will arrest the accused or we will block roads in protest,” Yadav said.

The AAP’s Gurugram Lok Sabha Sangathan Prabhari Sachin Gaur said that electricity is cheaper in Delhi, even when compared with the recently ‘reduced’ tariff for consumption of up to 200 units.

“Arvind Kejriwal reduced power tariffs within a week of taking charge as the chief minister, but the Haryana government is doing it now — when elections are around the corner. In Haryana, the power bills are steep even when the power supply is inadequate. We will start bijli (power) bill burning campaign after one month, if power supply is not regularised,” Gaur said.

Countering the charges, BJP spokesperson Raman Malik said the Haryana government’s decision to slash power consumption rates has brought relief to
consumers.

“We are concerned about cases of heinous crime and I strongly believe that the state will work as per law,” he said, adding that three persons have been arrested in the Rewari gang rape case and the hunt for others is on.