Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appealed to the people of poll-bound Karnataka to give his Aam Aadmi Party a chance to give a corruption-free government for five years.
Davangere, Karnataka:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appealed to the people of poll-bound Karnataka to give his Aam Aadmi Party a chance to give a corruption-free government for five years.
He also promised to give free electricity, quality education in government schools and good healthcare for the state’s people.
Addressing his maiden election public meeting in Karnataka, the AAP supremo said the party has zero tolerance for corruption as a minister and an MLA in party-ruled Punjab were jailed.
“We are staunch honest. We will give a corruption-free government. We will give free electricity, build good government schools and provide quality education,” Mr Kejriwal said.
Assembly elections are due in Karnataka by May.
The AAP chief alleged that corruption in the state doubled since the last assembly polls in 2018 and urged the people to vote in a ‘new engine’ government by throwing out the ‘double-engine’ regime of the BJP.
Taking a dig at the ruling BJP in Karnataka, Arvind Kejriwal alleged that there is a 40 per cent commission government running in the state.
“The people of Karnataka are good but the leaders are not. They defamed and destroyed the state before the world. There is a 40 per cent commission government here in which 40 per cent cut is taken in every public work,” the Delhi Chief Minister alleged.
In this context, he mentioned the recovery of ₹ 8.23 crore unaccounted cash from Channagiri BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa’s son Prashanth Kumar M V.
“Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah came to Karnataka and appealed to the people to give absolute majority in the upcoming assembly election so that a corruption-free government can be established in the state. Then, someone reminded him that already there is a BJP government in the state. I want to ask him why you could not eradicate corruption in the last four years,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.
He said the very next day after Shah flew back to Delhi, a BJP MLA’s son was caught with crores of unaccounted cash.
“That MLA and his son who hail from Davangere have not been arrested yet. Instead, Manish Sisodia was arrested,” Kejriwal said referring to Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia’s arrest by the CBI in the excise policy scam case.
He added that the raids at Sisodia’s house could not yield anything.
“They (BJP) alleged that Sisodia hushed up hundreds of crores of rupees. If that was true, then at least some crore of rupees should have been found but only ₹ 10,000 was found,” Arvind Kejriwal claimed.
Taking a jibe at the BJP, the Delhi Chief Minister said the MLA in the dock may be given Padma Bhushan award next year. “All the criminals be it thieves, robbers, rowdies or rapists are absorbed in the BJP,” he further claimed.
After the BJP formed governments in Nagaland and Tripura and formed a coalition government in Meghalaya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech during the victory celebrations in Delhi asked people to stay away from ‘staunch honest people’, Mr Kejriwal said.
“We did not fight the election in these three states but the Prime Minister mentioned us. He asked people to stay away from staunch honest people. He is afraid of us,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.