We made Delhi polio-free, not BJP, claims Congress

Launching a scathing attack on BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, the Congress on Monday called his claims of making Delhi polio-free “false and misleading”.

Launching a scathing attack on BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, the Congress on Monday called his claims of making Delhi polio-free “false and misleading”.

In a letter to Delhi’s chief electoral officer Vijay Dev, All India Congress Committee secretary of legal and human rights cell KC Mittal demanded action against Vardhan for violating the model code of conduct.

Mittal said Vardhan - who is seeking re-election from Krishna Nagar assembly constituency in East Delhi - has been running a campaign on FM channels that he made ‘Delhi polio-free’ when he was health minister when the BJP was in power between 1993 and 1998.

“But his claim is contrary to the official records. In 1998, 47 polio cases were reported in Delhi and the number increased to 73 in 1999. This shows that his claim is false and misleading.If Delhi would have been made polio-free by the BJP government in 1998, the number of cases in 1998-1999 would have been zero,” Mittal said.

“The number increased in 1999 because of mismanagement by the BJP government.”

Mittal said it was actually the Congress that had made Delhi ‘polio-free’. Not a single polio case had been reported in Delhi since 2010, Mittal claimed.