Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Shazia Ilmi on Monday lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party for giving a lok Sabha ticket to former Army chief Gen VK Singh, saying it had set a wrong and dangerous precedent.
Ilmi said though every citizen has a right to involve in an active politics after retirement but the way the BJP is projecting an ex-Army chief is posing a dangerous trend. “We have seen the deterioration of our neighbour Pakistan when Army personnel got involved in the politics of the country… the BJP is encouraging such trends in India for its narrow political aims,” she said. Addressing the mediapersons in the city, she challenged her opponents to an open debate on national and local issues.
She claimed that till now the politicians from both Congress and BJP, have amassed huge properties for their families. “They have left the Aam Aadmi to fend themselves. The AAP has taken this issue and challenges the leaders to come forward have an open debate on the issue related to the proportionate development of an Aam Aadmi during the last 65 years of so called Independence of our country,” she said. She added that the AAP has issued a blanket rule not to discuss caste and religious issues but would discuss issues related to the development.
Responding to Singh’s comment terming the AAP as anti-national, Shazia said, “The ex-Army chief had forgotten even his date of birth what can we expect from him. He forgot his article published in Hindu in which he had appreciated the role of Arvind Kejriwal.” While training her guns on the Congress, he said Raj Babbar and his party is unable to count even a single achievement except taunting on poverty by claiming to provide a onetime meal at Rs 10. “The Congress has opened FDI in retail why it has not open FDI in infrastructure. The AAP welcomes FDI in infrastructure,” asserted Ilmi.
Meanwhile, Ghaziabad Bar Association appealed the residents to support AAP candidate Shazia Ilmi during a programme Ghaziabad Bar council where she was welcome by bar secretary Yogendra Kaushik Ghaziabad Bar Association president Anil Pandit proposed a vote of thanks. Earlier to this Shazia Ilmi conducted a tour of the civil court compound and appealed the lawyers, litigants and the shop vendors to cast the vote in her favour.