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New Delhi: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the AAP aims to oust the BJP from the Centre in 2029, if not in 2024.
“If the BJP wins this year’s Lok Sabha polls, the AAP will liberate the country from the saffron party in the 2029 elections,” he said during a discussion on the motion of confidence he moved during the Budget session of the assembly. The House passed the motion of confidence through a voice vote, with 54 of the AAP’s 62 MLAs present during the voting. Kejriwal also said that no AAP MLAs have defected.
Kejriwal said the AAP has grown into the third-largest party in the country within 12 years of its formation and is the biggest challenger to the BJP which is why they under attack from all sides.
“In 12 years, the AAP has emerged as the third-largest party in the country. It takes a lot of struggle to become an MLA. In such a short time we have a full majority government in two states. Never in the history of Punjab has a party won 92 seats and never before in the history of Delhi has a party won 67. In future, they (BJP) only fear the AAP,” Kejriwal said.
Alleging that recently the BJP attempted to poach AAP MLAs by offering them Rs.25 crore each to topple the AAP government, Kejriwal moved a confidence motion in the assembly on Friday saying that it was “necessary to show to the people that the House has confidence in the council of ministers”.
He asserted that the BJP thought it could finish the AAP by arresting him.
“They (BJP) want to arrest Kejriwal and finish the AAP….they have arrested so many of our leaders. But people are watching everything. Discussions are happening in parks…people are asking whether (PM Narendra) Modi wants to crush Kejriwal. Such blatant attacks were never witnessed in the past. This is happening because AAP is the biggest challenger to the BJP,” he said.
AAP MLAs who participated in the discussions said that the BJP has made multiple attempts to poach its leaders in past in a bid to topple the AAP government. They said that they were with Kejriwal and will continue to remain with him.
The AAP MLAs also projected Kejriwal as the future PM, saying that the people of the country want the kind of work done in AAP-ruled Delhi and Punjab to take place all over the country.
Kejriwal claimed that the BJP is after him and his party because it has been unable to defeat the party the AAP in Delhi.
He elaborated on the works by the AAP-led government in Delhi and Punjab such as providing free electricity, mohalla clinics, government-run schools, water supply and expansion of sewer lines.
“In two years in Punjab, we have provided water supply to every village. Doorstep delivery of free services has been launched in Delhi and Punjab. We are making fundamental changes,” said Kejriwal.
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Asserting how the BJP controls and interrupts the work being done by his government in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “The BJP controls officers and staff in Delhi….officers are being called and threatened that they will be suspended if they work for the AAP government. They brought an ordinance to nullify the Supreme Court order which said AAP will control services. The finance department is not giving payment to the Delhi Jal Board. Sewer lines are overflowing and people are facing a water crisis.”
The BJP, using its power, conducted raids, arrested our ministers and constituted probes, and now they came to arrest me, said Kejriwal, adding that the AAP government is not going to fall.
Leader of opposition in the assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri was only only BJP MLA present in the assembly as the other seven MLA were suspended on Thursday from assembly proceedings for interrupting the LG’s address.
Bidhuri said the confidence motion was not required because the AAP already has a majority with 62 MLAs in the 70-member Delhi assembly and claimed that Kejriwal moved the confidence motion to divert public attention from the scams of the Delhi government.
Attacking Kejriwal, Bidhuri said that the AAP-led Delhi government is facing various corruption charges and has failed on all fronts. Kejriwal wanted a confidence motion to divert the attention of the people from the corruption issues and AAP’s failure.
On the allegations of MLA poaching by the BJP, he said, “We requested the Delhi Police commissioner to conduct a probe into the allegations of poaching of AAP MLAs levelled by CM and minister Atishi against the BJP and take strict action if there is any truth in the allegations, but they are not cooperating with the investigation.”
Alok K N Mishra is a journalist with the Hindustan Times, New Delhi. He writes on governance, policy and politics. He is an ardent follower of politics and is fascinated about making politics work better for the middle-class and the poor. He loves to discuss and predict the national political behaviour. Before shifting to Delhi, he covered political instability, governance, and misgovernance besides Maoists insurgency in Jharkhand for almost half a decade. He started out in 2010 as a city reporter with Times of India, Patna.
AAP will liberate country from BJP in 2029: Kejriwal – Hindustan Times
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