New Delhi: With the Delhi assembly elections inching closer, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia launched a scathing attack at Opposition Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) alleging that the saffron party would negate all the good work done by AAP in the field of education and health if it happens to form a government in the national capital.
"Everyone is acknowledging the hard work put in by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to improve the condition of the public schools in Delhi, and if BJP comes to power it will reverse all the development made in this sector. Public schools will be reduced to 'tent schools'. It took us a long time to regulate the fees charged by private schools. BJP will hike the fees, if they happen to come to power, just like they did in Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad, " Sisodia told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview.
The AAP leader further said, "Kejriwal Ji has worked very hard to reduce the electricity charges in Delhi, 200 units of electricity are now provided free of cost. If BJP comes to power people will have to pay electricity bills anywhere between 4 to 5,000 every month. This is what we are telling the people of Delhi, and they are understanding our point."
Further elaborating on the work done by his party in the education sector, Sisodia said, "When we took charge of the government there were 174 students in each class, today the capacity has reached 70-80 students, and we want the figure to reach 40. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in Delhi. It is with great difficulty that our government has revived the public education sector in Delhi."
"We have opened 16 new colleges in Delhi. Now the number of students getting admitted to higher education courses has reached an average of 1,60,000 every year, compared to 90,000 in previous years. We guarantee that even a student who scores 60 percent marks in school will get admission in a decent college in the next five years, " added the MLA who is contesting again from the Patparganj seat in east Delhi.
On the allegation of him spending a bit too much on building schools, and siphoning off 2,000 crore, he said, "I have filed a defamation suit against BJP. They tried to malign my image, they even sent CBI to my house accusing me of corruption. My house was raided by the CBI for 7-8 hours but they couldn't find anything."
Continuing his tirade against the Opposition, Sisodia said, "Congress is nowhere to be seen. BJP has its own plank to fight the elections on, its existence depends on communal politics, not work, and not everyone is charmed by it. BJP is like a wedding party without a groom."
"AAP leaders have been attacked several times, several accusations have been made against them, but nothing lasted for long. The only thing that lasted was Arvind Kejriwal's work, " said the deputy CM.
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On BJP accusing AAP of opening only five Schools of Excellence instead of more, as promised by them, Sisodia said, "BJP has no moral right to speak about these things, education is not a priority for them."
When asked if they have been able to reduce corruption as claimed by them, Sisodia said, "The fact that tax collection in Delhi is increasing is a sign of reduced corruption. We have reduced tax in Delhi, and Delhi's budget shot up from 30,000 crore to 60,000 crore."
On AAP's expectations from the upcoming election, Sisodia said, " We are fighting on 70 seats. We are hoping that we will win 50-60 seats comfortably. But it won't be surprised if we happen to cross 67."
Delhi is going to polls on February 8 and the results will be declared on February 11.
