Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday ended his fast against “inflated” power bills.
While breaking his fast by sipping a glass of coconut water offered by a girl, he hit out at both the Congress and the BJP. He declared that the AAP would give them a tough fight in the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled later this year. Both parties, however, dismissed Mr. Kejriwal’s campaign as just a “political stunt.”
During his two-week fast at Sundar Nagri here, AAP volunteers campaigned across the 272 municipal wards, asking the residents not to pay their electricity and water bills and got them sign on a protest letter to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Mr. Kejriwal, former aide of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who claimed to have got over 10-lakh signature support for his campaign, made it clear that while the fast had ended, the campaign had not. He appealed to Delhi people to cooperate in the second phase of his campaign during which AAP volunteers would break the law and restore power connections to houses which were cut by discoms for non-payment of bills.
Claiming that the Delhi elections would be fought on the issues of water and electricity bills raised by his party, Mr. Kejriwal said the failure of the government was evident as it could not provide power and water to the people. He had accused the Delhi government of being hand in glove with the discoms and reaping profits at the expense of common people who were forced to pay inflated power bills.
“Sheila Dikshit baar baar keh rahi hai ki unhone Delhi me 24 ghante bijli ki supply di. Ye Shiela Dikshit ke vajah se nahi, private companies ke vajah se nahi, balki isliye hai kyunki naye naye power stations bane hai. November me jab Aam Aadmi Party ki sarkar banegi, hum Delhi me bills adhe karenge.”
He promised that electricity price would be reduced by half if the AAP came to power.
“The Chief Minister says discoms do not want to get CAG audit done, but is she working for them? We will get the CAG audit of all these companies done when we come to power.”
Earlier, the AAP volunteers restored power connections to more than 150 households in Delhi.
