The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced that it is going to field candidates in all the 224 Assembly constituencies in the forthcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. Party leader and MLA from Delhi, Atishi Marlena informed the media persons that Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal will start campaigning in the state in due course. The announcement of the candidates will happen in the first week of March.
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Ms. Marlena termed that Namma Clinic project of the ruling BJP government is nothing but a “copycat” of Mohalla Clinic porject by her party in Delhi but poorly executed in Karnataka. She said that the political agenda of the three parties in the State BJP, Congress and JD(S) are those set by AAP.
Only 430 set up
“Only 430 Namma Clinics have been set up in Karnataka, which is a huge State compared to 500 in Delhi. Mohalla Clinics set up by AAP in Delhi offer 400 diagnostic tests, whereas in Karnataka they offer 15. It is a poor imitation of the project implemented by AAP. Similarly, the Karnataka government promises 24,000 classrooms in the Viveka scheme. My question is why have they not been built in all these years? On the other hand, the Congress promised 200 units of power. My question is Congress is ruling in many states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and are they giving free electricity in the state where they are ruling? The only state providing free electricity via AAP is Delhi and now Punjab,” she said.
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“People don’t want a copycat. There’s only one Puneet Rajkumar, and no-one can replace him. Similarly, no one can replace AAP. Other parties may promise the same things, but only AAP has delivered. The people of Karnataka are aware of this and that’s why our volunteers receive positive responses on the ground. I urge the people of Karnataka to choose an honest party that has delivered, and that party is AAP,” She added.
25% allocation to education
Ms. Marlena said the Kejriwal-led government has allocated 25% of its budget for education, while Karnataka’s government only allocates 12%. Without adequate funding, Ms. Marlena said, the government cannot improve infrastructure or provide high-quality teacher training. She added that the Punjab government has regularized jobs of 9,000 teachers, while Karnataka 11,000 teachers are getting low pay and the government, citing court orders, is not regularizing their jobs.
Edu-Status symposium
Later, addressing the ‘Edu-Status’ a State-level symposium organised by the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), Ms. Marlena urged the Karnataka government to focus on improving quality education and infrastructure of government schools in the State, rather than regulating private schools.
“The parents in Karnataka have no choice other than sending their children to private schools. Therefore, the government should improve the government schools, instead of controlling private schools,” he said.