It has only been a couple of days since the Aam Aadmi Party swept the Delhi elections, but senior leader Manish Sisodia is already in action mode. Seen accompanying Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal for all his high-profile meetings in the past two days, Sisodia is expected to be appointed the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi. Thus, with all the additional responsibility, the newly-appointed MlA has already chalked out a roadmap for Delhi and set the ball in motion for the upcoming days of unlimited work.
While talking to The Pioneer on Thursday, the to-be Delhi Cabinet Minister said, “In the 70-point agenda presented by us before elections, each and every point is of priority. We have started working as well in that direction as we asked the Chief Secretary on Wednesday to have departments prepare PowerPoint presentations on the manifesto by February 19.
We have asked them to put forward a presentation on when and how the Government can deliver on the agenda while providing details of financial requirements, timelines, et cetera. Once they give us that we will ideate and move forward.”
Sisodia added that while this is the work being done on the manifesto, there are a few emergency needs which have also been addressed. “As summer closes in, electricity and water crises increase and the prices of fruits and vegetables rise. However, we have asked the various departments to keep a special check on these things and also asked for the current status of these departments so that we can avoid a disaster,” explained Sisodia.
The Minister however, didn’t put a definitive deadline on when the AAP Government will be able to deliver on their promises. According to him, it was not right to put a deadline. He said, “Yes, people in the party have said that within 72 hours we will provide free water and cut electricity rates, but honestly we are working towards doing things as soon as possible. We don’t want to do things in a haphazard way and be procedurally correct. We will definitely set a timeline for things, but let us get into the system first.”
One of the top appeals of the CM-designate to the people of Delhi before elections was to give the party a clear mandate so that the Jan lokpal Bill could be passed in the Vidhan Sabha. Sisodia said that now that the party holds 67 seats in the Assembly, the first thing they will clear in the Vidhan Sabha is the lokpal Bill. “The first session will mostly be occupied with the oath-takings. Thus, in the second session we will hopefully try to pass the lokpal Bill,” he added.
At present, the AAP Government doesn’t have an Opposition in the Assembly since BJP didn’t manage to secure 10 per cent of the seats. However, on the issue of whether AAP will offer leader of Opposition to BJP’s three MlAs, Sisodia said that it was too early to comment and the party had not yet taken a call on that matter.