'Long power cuts, high...': Arvind Kejriwal warns against voting for BJP in upcoming Delhi Assembly polls

The long power cuts in Delhi will return if the people vote for the BJP in the upcoming Assembly polls, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said in a "padayatra" campaign of his party in Mehrauli on Wednesday. No immediate reaction was available from the BJP over AAP's allegations.

Addressing a gathering during the campaign, Kejriwal also asked the people not to pay their water bills if they are "inflated" and he would get those waived off. "However, you will have to pay those bills if the BJP comes to power," he said.

Accompanied by local AAP MLA Naresh Yadav, Kejriwal walked through the streets of Mehraruli, greeting and shaking hands with people. Many garlanded him and clicked selfies with the former Delhi chief minister.

"AAP's works in education, health, electricity, and water have been unparalleled in the last 75 years. The BJP wants to stall all the free schemes like electricity, water, health and education provided by the AAP government in Delhi," he charged.

The people in the states ruled by the BJP have also started demanding free electricity and other facilities like those in Delhi and so they want to stall them, he said.

If the BJP comes to power, the power cuts of eight to ten hours will return as they were there before AAP came to power. There is a free and round-the-clock electricity supply in Delhi while long power cuts are common in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, he claimed. Both UP and Haryana are BJP-ruled states.

Hitting out at the saffron party over the arrest of AAP leaders, including him, Kejriwal said first they tried to stall work through the LG. But that did not happen and then they sent AAP leaders to jail, the former chief minister said.

"When they couldn't stop us through the LG, they resorted to jailing AAP leaders on fabricated charges. I heard that when I was in prison they troubled you a lot, damaged the sewers, and stopped the water supply.
"Now, after coming back, I have started working at top speed. I have started cleaning, providing medicines in hospitals, tests, and everything," he said.

Kejriwal alleged that the BJP neither has the intention nor capability to provide the services which AAP does in Delhi. But to stall the work, the BJP is using every tactic at its disposal to seize power in Delhi, be it persuasion, money, punishment, or division, he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)

READ | Punjab Assembly bypolls: Nayab Singh Saini, Amarinder Singh included in list of BJP's 40 star campaigners