New Delhi: Former Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot, fielded by the BJP from the Bijwasan Assembly constituency, expressed confidence on Saturday of winning the Assembly election, claiming that the frustrated voters in the national capital now want a government that promotes development.
“I am all geared up for the contest,” Gahlot told IANS, soon after a visit to Rangpuri Pahari area in the constituency.
Pitted against Surender Bhardwaj of the AAP and Devinder Sehrawat of the Congress, the former Transport Minister predicted heavy voting in the constituency during the upcoming Assembly election in February.
“For the last 10 years, people in the area, including Rangpuri Pahari, have been waiting for basic civic facilities,” he said.
“The jhuggi Jhopri clusters and unauthorised colonies are still without basic facilities,” he said.
“We are talking about zero bill but look at the plight of people who are battling long power-cuts lasting up to 8 hours.,” he said, adding that power cuts have been disrupting the daily routines of school kids, office goers and homemakers.
Despite remaining in power for 10 years, the AAP government has failed to deliver basic civic services in unauthorised colonies, he said.
Interestingly, Bijwasan constituency’s Rangpuri Pahari area was in the news after Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena recently flagged miserable civic conditions in south Delhi’s colony.
The L-G’s inspection and the subsequent development work ordered by him in the area had kicked up a controversy, with former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attempting to take credit for the work and Saxena reprimanding him for political gimmickry.
Kejriwal had thanked the L-G for highlighting the problem in Rangpuri and assured that “our team” would take remedial action. The L-G wrote to him and said: “The ‘our team’ you have mentioned in today’s post on ‘X’ is the same officer/department who accompanied me on the tour of Rangpuri and Kapashera on December 21,2024 and to whom I had requested for solution of the problems.”
In a stinging criticism of the AAP convenor ahead of Assembly elections, the L-G said: “You will recall that on many occasions during the last two and a half years, either in writing or in personal discussions, I have drawn your attention to the many grave problems of Delhi and Delhiites and requested you to resolve them. Some of those issues were pollution in the Yamuna, cleaning of the Najafgarh drain, desilting of sewer lines, dilapidated condition of roads, water shortage, delay in construction of hospitals and air pollution.”
(IANS)
