Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit may be seeking a fourth term in office on the plank of development, but her New Delhi Assembly constituency, which boasts among other things of the architecturally marvellous Lutyens’ Delhi, has not even sorted out its basic issues.
This is being alleged in the constituency manifesto of the Aam Aadmi Party, presently undergoing final touches.
The manifesto will be ready in a week and will be released and distributed across the constituency in a booklet form.
Some of the main problems affecting the electorate in the area, as the manifesto-in-the-making highlights, are ‘insufficient supply of drinking water; security concerns, especially of women; inadequate street lights, ineffective drainage system and absence of proper waste disposal system.”
This seat, and consequently the manifesto are important for the Aam Aadmi Party for it is from here that its chief ministerial candidate would be making his maiden political foray and that too against Ms. Dikshit, who had won the 2008 election by a margin of nearly 15,000 votes.
Ms. Dikshit’s “careless attitude” towards her own seat, argue AAP leaders, would be the new weapon the party will use to undercut her credibility.
“Lutyens’ Delhi brings to our mind the unblemished Delhi. But once you take a round of any area and talk to those who stay here, you will notice that even the basic needs of people’s life, have been left for the people to take care of,” said Gopal Mohan, campaign manager of the AAP chief ministerial candidate.
“The height of Ms. Dikshit’s carelessness and arrogance towards her own constituency is reflected by the fact that she hardly visits it. She has outsourced campaigning and other area-related people’s work to somebody else,” claimed Mr. Mohan, adding that there was a tremendous amount of anger among people, which will in turn be reflected in the forthcoming elections.
The most ironic fact, alleged Mr. Mohan, was that women were not safe at all in the seat represented by Ms. Dikshit.
Some other issues which have also found mention in the manifesto are “need for permanent quarters and jhuggis with proper facilities; quality schools; absence of local dispensaries; inadequate public transport, absence of gates at the entrance of colonies.”
“People are amazed at the manifesto-making process because we are going door to door talking to every household about their individual problems. That is what AAP plans to do. Let people decide what their problems are and how they should be governed,” concluded Mr. Mohan.
AAP is presently busy preparing 71 manifestos for the city, one each for the 70 Assembly constituencies and one for the whole of Delhi.
Starting with Bijwasan, all the constituency manifestos are expected to be released soon.
