Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at a rally in Rajkot, on Wednesday reiterated his appeal to voters to give one chance to the Aam Aadmi Party in Gujarat. He showcased the works of the Delhi government in the fields of education and health, while providing power at affordable rates.
He also promised free electricity, better schools and hospitals if the AAP formed the next government in Gujarat where the Assembly polls are scheduled later this year.
“In Delhi, people have shifted their children back to government schools. We have seen hundreds of children from Delhi’s schools cracking IIT entrance exams and joining various IITs for higher education,” Mr. Kejriwal said, asking why people have to put their children in Gujarat in private schools.
“In last seven years, our government has ensured that school fee in private schools were not raised. If the AAP could do it in Delhi, why the BJP government failed to improve schools in Gujarat in the last 27 years,” the AAP leader said as he continued to corner the Gujarat government over the “poor performance” of government schools.
“The BJP is the party of rich people and therefore it would allow private schools for rich but what about poor who cannot afford those schools,” he said, echoing the same view Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed in Gujarat on Tuesday, accusing the ruling party of working for a few corporates and rich people.
Second rally
This was Mr. Kejriwal’s second poll rally in Gujarat in as many weeks. Earlier, he held a rally of tribals in Bharuch while last month, he and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Maan held a roadshow in Ahmedabad.
In Gujarat’s nearly bipolar polity, the AAP is working hard to become a third player.
In Rajkot, Mr. Kejriwal asked people to visit Delhi’s schools and public hospitals and mohalla clinics to see and compare them with Gujarat’s schools and public health facilities.
Mr. Kejriwal also took on Gujarat BJP chief C.R. Paatil who called the Delhi Chief Minister a “thug”, without naming him. “Everyone knows that C.R. Paatil, a Maharashtrian is super CM in Gujarat. He calls me a thug but let me tell you that a thug does not talk and works for education and health.”
The Delhi Chief Minister also said that women and senior citizens of Gujarat would be taken to pilgrimage places like Ayodhya.
“Though the BJP is in power for 27 years in Gujarat, it has never sent a single person on pilgrimage. In Delhi, we sent 50,000 persons on pilgrimage in three years under our scheme. If voted to power here in Gujarat, we will take each and every elderly citizen to religious places for free,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
