Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday sought to electrify the electoral landscape in poll-bound Punjab, promising 300 units of free electricity to every family in the state and waiver of all pending domestic power bills. This means restoration of all connections that have been snapped because of non-payment of bills. Kejriwal’s third power promise was 24X7 electricity supply in the state.
“We will do three major works here (Punjab). First, we will provide 300 units of free electricity to every family. Second, all pending domestic electricity bills will be waived off and the connection of people will be restored. Third, 24-hour electricity supply will be provided,” Kejriwal said.
Accusing the state government of working in connivance with power companies, Kejriwal added: “When we fought polls for the first time in Delhi in 2013, people used to get absurd electricity bills. The government was colluding with the electricity companies, just like Punjab. Today there is 24-hour electricity in Delhi at a very low rate. We have to do this in Punjab.”
On the question of freebies, he said that in the initial days of his government, all the electricity companies were in the loss as per the CAG report, but now all the electricity companies are making profits. Addressing the issue of unemployment in the state, the AAP national convener said that he will come after two months and announce a new policy for the unemployed.
Stage is all set. Arvind Kejriwal is coming to deliver an electric shock to the unholy Captain- Badal alliance.
Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/VTAKwcikVL
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) June 29, 2021
AAP has high hopes, again, in Punjab. Its surprisingly good performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when it won four Lok Sabha seats that translated into 33 Assembly segments did not continue in the Assembly elections of 2017. The party won only 20 seats, almost all confined to the Malwa region, south of the Sutlej.
Kejriwal senses a second chance in Punjab, given the strong sentiment against the Bharatiya Janata Party generated by the continuing farm protest movement. The BJP has already lost its old ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal which walked out of the National Democratic Alliance over the new farm laws last year. With that went the winning Hindu-Sikh electoral combination that these two parties had successfully built.
Multi-cornered contests suit the AAP well. No surprise then that Kejriwal has pulled out his Delhi election playbook which twice mapped out victory over two national parties.
(With ANI inputs)