Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday lashed out at the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party for levelling unfounded allegations of corruption against her government. She said the parties have not been able to tell the people where exactly the corruption lay.
Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) headquarters here, Ms. Dikshit said “both the BJP and the AAP have been accusing the government of being corrupt and the challenge we throw at them is to tell us where. We have never stooped to such lows.”
As for the policies or what these two Opposition parties have to offer to the people, Ms. Dikshit said: “What are they saying? We don’t even know what their policies are. As for us, we are going into the elections with confidence on the back of the work done by us in the past 15 years.’’
The Chief Minister said she was proud of that her government had been sensitive and progressive. “Be it our work during the Commonwealth Games, or that related to the Delhi Metro, the DTC buses, flyovers or hospitals, or Delhi now having 24 universities, people can see that development has taken place in every sphere.”
As for the future, she said how the Government will move ahead will be reflected in the manifesto, which will be out in about a week’s time. She added that development will continue the way it has been.
Ridiculing the BJP’s claim of providing electricity at 30 per cent less, Ms. Dikshit said people know that the tariff in Delhi is among the lowest in the country. “Even when it comes to tariff, we have covered 78 per cent of the population through our subsidies, which cater to two different categories – those consuming up to 200 units of power per month and those consuming between 200 and 400 units.”
DPCC president J.P. Agarwal took a dig at BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who had criticised Sheila Dikshit saying that she was just cutting ribbons. “We are now cutting ribbons because we had carried out development works earlier.’’
Mr. Agarwal also said “the new born (Arvind Kejriwal) has just been busy criticising others and finding faults because he sees everything through broken glasses that show him a different world”.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said hopefully Congress would return to cutting more ribbons after the Assembly polls as the model code of conduct has come into force for the time being.
Mr. Ahmed also announced that the Congress was working on identifying its candidates for the Assembly polls. “Winnability (sic) is the main criteria. We have already held one meeting of the Election Committee and would be deciding on the names which would then be sent to the Screening Committee,’’ he said.
