Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Sunday reiterated her resolve to rid the people of Delhi from hunger and also provide house to every single family that is below the poverty line. She also pitched for a single window system or single command for the city as that would help in fast pacing the developmental work.
launching her campaign in the first election rally at Ramlila ground near Kala Mandir cinema hall in Mangolpuri for the upcoming Assembly polls on December 4, Dikshit rued that multiplicity of commands caused confusion and delayed developmental work in the national Capital and urged Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to solve the issue.
She lamented that despite her Government’s earnest approach, it took four-long years to get the clearance for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies.
“It would not have taken that long had the command (structure) been single. There are a number of authorities — the Centre, MCDs, NDMC, lieutenant Governor etc. Multiplicity of commands causes complexity and leads to confusion. If there is one command, this problem can be solved. I urge Rahul Gandhiji to work for the redressal of the problem,” Dikshit said at the rally.
Addressing the gathering, Dikshit announced that if her Government come to power for the fourth time, she would improve water distribution system in Delhi. “The second version of ladli say ‘Kabil laadli’, would be introduced and Bhagidari will be given new dimensions. Our aim is to make Delhi a prosperous and healthy city,” said Dikshit.
Raising the issue of development, Congress’s main poll plank for Delhi, Dikshit said that the State today had the best food security, health, education, roads, bridges, transportation and other amenities.
Putting her focus on youths, Dikshit said the aim was to ensure that youngsters in the city did not only get an education, but also found jobs. “In the future, we will make sure they (youths) get employment. If voted to power, we will launch ‘Kabil ladli Yojana’ to teach professional skills to girls. All of us take a vow that Delhi will be much better in the future. We want to make a Delhi where nobody dies of hunger, nobody stays without education,” she said.
Calling the Congress vice-president, the “light of the future”, Dikshit urged him to address more rallies in Delhi. She also told Rahul that 13 lakh people in Delhi had vowed that they wanted Congress and Rahul Gandhi to lead them. “People see in you the future... What Delhi does today, other States (of the country) follow tomorrow,” she said, underlining the growing demand within the party for the naming of Rahul as the Congress Prime Ministerial candidate for the lok Sabha polls next year.
Although Rahul Gandhi chose not to react against BJP’s attack on him for mentioning the sacrifices of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi, AICC General Secretary and in-charge of Delhi affairs Shakeel Ahmed attacked the saffron unit saying, “Only those who have a legacy and history can speak about it.”
“BJP is very pained why we take the name of our ancestors. Without taking their names, the full picture of India does not emerge. I want to ask you whether you know about the ancestors of any BJP leader. How can they take any such names, when they have neither any legacy nor history,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Ahmed said Delhi is home to not only people from Bihar and Eastern UP, but from other States as well while BJP is aligning with Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray, who have been attacking Hindi-speaking people in Maharashtra. Ahmed attacked BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for extending State guest-like welcome to MNS chief Raj Thackeray, “who had made an attempt to chase away people from Maharashtra coming from the Hindi belt.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Congress President and MP Jai Prakash Aggarwal also took a dig at Narendra Modi while pointing out that Congress and the Gandhi family had a tradition of sacrifice. “There are people who say I will become Prime Minister, But Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, despite being in a position to become PM, offered the chair to Manmohan Singh,” he said.
Delhi Urban Development Minister Arvinder Singh lovely said that the State BJP’s move to name Harsh Vardhan as its Chief Ministerial candidate had proved that their poll survey was fictitious. PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said the Congress has given ownership rights to people of resettlement colonies.