Delhi Election 2020: BJP may have found the answer to Arvind Kejriwal’s biggest weapon this election

BJP Manifesto 2020: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is likely to release its manifesto for the Delhi Assembly elections on Friday, could unveil its plan to blunt the biggest weapon at the hands of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal this election. Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party have banked on freebies in their bid to keep voters enthralled ahead of elections – be it water bill waivers, free electricity or free travel for women. Many observers see these freebies as the biggest source of Kejriwal’s popularity and confidence going into elections.

The BJP, however, may have found the perfect answer to the AAP government’s freebies. The party’s ‘Sankalp Patra’, likely to be unveiled today, is likely to keep its focus on offering subsidies on electricity and water. The election document will be unveiled by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and other senior leaders.

The past week has seen the elections getting severely polarised with the BJP leaders raising the pitch over Shaheen Bagh, the site of anti-CAA protest for the past 45 days. And while the BJP may be seen gaining momentum in the final days going into polls, there is a concern deep down within the BJP that the voters may ultimately keep the AAP’s freebies in mind while going into elections.

It is in this backdrop that the BJP manifesto could focus on the very planks that helped Arvind Kejriwal storm to power in the 2015 Assembly elections. Promises of cheap electricity, free water and better education facilities formed the foundation of AAP’s campaign the last time and the BJP won’t shy away from following AAP’s lead on this front.

Notably, the AAP government last year announced the people of Delhi don’t have to pay any amount on power consumption of upto 200 units, bringing many households in a bracket to receive free electricity. People of Delhi are already getting free water.

The BJP’s manifesto, besides focussing on water and electricity subsidies, will focus on developing infrastructure in Delhi. BJP leaders in their rallies have accuses the AAP government of stalling the city’s development work. The saffron party is sharing a series of tweets questioning the performance of the city government. The party has claimed that AAP failed to fulfil its promise of 500 schools, 20 new colleges, installing 15 lakh CCTVs, new flyovers, and redesigning of roads as per international standards.

Party’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari has said that the party, if forms the government, will not discontinue the benefits that have been extended by the AAP government to people. He even said that the BJP government will provide five times more benefits. “We (BJP) will definitely give minimum five times the benefits which the AAP have claimed for their tenure of five years,” he had promised.

Responding to Tiwari’s promise to provide five times more benefits, the AAP tweeted a popular dialogue from Hindi movie Gangs of Wasseypur, “Beta, tumse na ho payega” and dared him to provide free electricity and water to people in states where the saffron party is in power.

Source: Financial Express