New Delhi: With Delhi Assembly polls edging closer, key political parties; the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are gearing up to give a tough fight to each other.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, Subhash Chopra and his daughter Shivani Chopra, who is making her political debut, talked extensively about the party's preparations for the Delhi Assembly elections.
The DPCC chief said that the Congress party is garnering votes on the major developments done by it during its reign and people will definitely vote for them.
"The Congress has done a slew of development works for 15 years since it came to power in 1998 in Delhi. The state lacked basic amenities like water, electricity, roads etc at that time. No one could think of metros, a number of flyovers in those days. No one could think that Delhi will have so many schools, hospitals and Universities in near future but it was the Congress party who made all these possible and changed the face of Delhi."
Shivani Chopra, who is contesting against AAP leader Atishi from Kalkaji seat, said that during Sheila Dixit reign, the state was on the path of development but Kejriwal-led AAP government has broken its backbone.
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"With all due respect to Atishi, I want to ask what kind of educational reform has she done? Making a few new classrooms doesn't define educational reform. The government schools lack teachers. The graph of class X results have gone down. I don't understand what kind of educational reform is this," said Shivani.
On being asked that what 'Guru-mantra' has he given to his daughter who is making her political debut, Chopra said, "She posses all the qualities a young leader should have. She was associated with an NGO and has travelled all around the world for the world peace and development of children. We need such kind of girls who have guts to do something for the betterment of society. She was the first one to visit Jamia and JNU when there was unrest among students. So, we need girls like her to come forward and lead."
Further, launching a blistering attack on Kejriwal-led AAP government, The DPCC chief said that the AAP government has failed on every front.
"What has the AAP government given to Delhi? The RTI revealed that more than 61,000 people died in Delhi due to diseases related to the respiratory system. The government which cannot reduce pollution and provide fresh air, water to people has absolutely no right to be in power," he said.
Speaking of the main agenda of Congress in the manifesto, the Congress leader said that the pollution and old-age pension would be the prime agendas for the party, adding that AAP government failed to provide pension to a major chunk of old age people.
Upbeat about her win, Shivani said that electricity, water-crisis and women safety are some of the issues in her assembly seat that she would like to address.
On being asked about that who would be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party, the DPCC chief said that elected representatives will decide on this.
"The chief minister will be decided by elected representatives and that will be binding to everybody. My work is to strengthen the party which will subsequently strengthen the society and the country," he added.
It is to be noted that after ruling the city for 15 years, the Congress was reduced to zero seats in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls while the AAP bagged 67 seats and the BJP got three out of 70 seats.
Voting in all 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi is scheduled to take place on February 8. Counting of votes will take place on February 11.
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