Policy, agenda and ethics – these and more were up for discussion on Saturday in Greater Kailash, where candidates of the top three political parties in the running for the Assembly polls debated each other.
The debate, organised by the Citizens’ Alliance and the GK-II Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA), forced Aam Aadmi Party candidate and former MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, Congress candidate Sharmistha Mukherjee and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rakesh Gullaiya to share a stage and their opinions on various issues.
Each time a candidate answered the panel’s questions, the packed hall of the GK-II Arya Samaj Mandir erupted in cheers or boos. It started off with a structured debate on five questions decided by representatives of the Citizens’ Alliance and the RWA, followed by questions from the audience that comprised the residents.
The candidates were asked about the use of the MLA’s Local Area Development funds, and all three agreed that the residents’ views were required in deciding the allocation.
The entire room looked up in attention when the candidates were asked about their solutions for the vehicular congestion in GK, which is mired in traffic jams due to construction work and the lack of parking.
Mr. Bhardwaj, who was the Transport Minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government, was asked why he couldn’t get the Bus Rapid Transit corridor completely scrapped in his tenure.
“The High Court had upheld the BRT corridor in one of its orders so we could not go against it through an administrative order. We couldn’t make any changes in the Assembly because our friends [Opposition] didn’t let us work,” said Mr. Bhardwaj.
He, as well as Mr. Gullaiya, assured the residents that the corridor would be dismantled if they came to power. Ms. Mukherjee said she would have a traffic survey done. To Mr. Bhardwaj, she said: “As the Transport Minister, you should have introduced more feeder buses to improve last-mile connectivity.”
Mr. Gullaiya came up with a rather unpopular solution when he suggested an elevated road over a forest. “I will make a road over the Jahanpanah City forest,” said the former BJP councillor, to an audibly negative reaction from the crowd. Ms. Mukherjee added that it would not be possible because of environmental concerns.
Chetan Sharma, the chairperson of the Federation of GK-II RWAs, said the debate will help residents make an informed choice on February 7. “This was the first such debate this elections where the audience did not comprise any party workers and the questions were all neutral. It gave candidates a level playing field,” said Mr. Sharma.
