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A drama to fool people: Congress hits out at Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘powerplay’ in Punjab
Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday made the pre-poll promise of 300 units of free electricity to each and every household in Punjab.
Congress hit out at Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday over his press conference, calling it a “drama to fool people”. Congress minister Charanjit Singh Channi told reporters that following the Punjab government’s announcement of free electricity, Kejriwal “rushed from Delhi”.
“Arvind Kejriwal's press conference in Punjab was a drama to fool people. Soon after our government announced 300 units of free electricity for the people, he rushed from Delhi to here,” Channi told news agency ANI.
Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener on Tuesday made the pre-poll promise of 300 units of free electricity to each and every household. Calling it “Kejriwal’s guarantees, not the Captain’s (Amarinder Singh) promises” the chief minister also promised to write off pending bills of consumers of domestic supply”, adding that his promise is bound to make women “especially happy”.
Kejriwal accused the Punjab government of forming a “nexus” with private power companies and assured citizens that AAP if chosen will ensure round the clock power supply.
Following Kejriwal’s announcement former chairman and managing director of the Punjab State Power Corporation limited, B S Sran, told news agency PTI that his particular promise will cost the state exchequer an additional financial burden of additional financial burden of ₹4,000- ₹5,000, in addition to the ₹10,000 plus crore spent by the government in power subsidies. Sran added that the promise of 300 units of free power is most likely to bring little to no benefit for the people since during the summer months electricity consumption exceeds that particular ceiling.
This will be the second foray into Punjab for AAP, the first being the 2017 legislative assembly elections. Kejriwal has promised to replicate the Delhi Model in Punjab, however the ruling Congress has expressed doubts, Channi told reporters that AAP’s efforts leading up to the elections “will not help, he failed 5 years ago and will fail now too,”.
