After losing two successive polls and almost complete decimation in the country, the Congress is now planning to follow the footsteps of the BJP and the AAP by “adopting” poll planks similar to them to regain its lost ground.Carrying the slogan “Dilli Banaya tha, Dilli Banayege,” the Congress manifesto will now come out with a detailed blueprint of power reforms, along with promising a drastic reduction in power and water tariff, and regulating the DERC.
The party will spell out the ways and means to rid Delhiites of the inflated power bills. They will amend the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) Act to accord more powers to the regulator for keeping discoms under check and make it more people-friendly.Top sources told The Pioneer that the Congress has been working on this for the past three months to find out ways and means to reduce electricity bills, but unlike Arvind Kejriwal the party does not plan to give subsidies to power discoms.
The Congress is also planning to hold a rally of party president Sonia Gandhi in Badarpur area on February 1, while vice-president Rahul Gandhi is expected to address a rally in Central Delhi and Outer Delhi soon.Power tariff reduction had played a major role in denting Congress vote bank. Notably, the Congress Government lost the 2013 Assembly polls after the AAP and the BJP convinced the voters that the Congress was responsible for power tariff hike in the national Capital. Similarly, the AAP had won 28 seats in the last Assembly polls on the same plank.
“I will also ask power companies that the profit they had earned by decreasing electricity theft why it was not passed on to the consumer by reducing tariffs. This work will be done by Ajay Maken. At least 55 per cent water of Delhi gets wasted through leakage,” sources said.“The money which has been saved by reducing power theft will be used in betterment of water supplies. We have vision for Delhi and we are trusted,” he added.
It is noteworthy that the AAP has also planned to make electricity tariff an issue in the elections and promised to reduce by 50 per cent if he party comes to power in Delhi. On the other hand, the BJP is also planning to provide subsidy on electricity.