The Delhi Assembly elections are drawing the entire countrys attention. It is the most bitterly fought elections in the history of 70-member Delhi Assembly. The emergence of a third serious player in the form of Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal may well end up in a hung Assembly. As it looks unlikely that the chief ministerial candidates - Sheila Dikshit (Congress), Dr Harsh Vardhan (BJP) and AAPs Arvind Kejriwal - will debate at one platform before the Delhi elections so CNN-IBN compiled a list of five questions that concern Delhities and asked all the three. All three agree on only one thing, full statehood for Delhi. Question: Do you think multiplicity of authorities is one of the citys biggest problems and what do you plan to do to ensure that Delhi is granted full statehood - with the law and order, and land related matters under the purview of the state? Sheila Dikshit: Well, we have been fighting it for the last 15 years that before that there have been studies on the administrative setup of Delhi whether it is the Bal Krishnan Report, Ved Prakash Report or Mr Moilys report. They have all sided with us and understood the problems of having duplicity of authorities, rather multiplicity of authorities and it makes the whole process very slow and peoples expectations are from us, and we are unable to fulfil them as fast we normally we should be able to do. And there are constraints also you need a building for a school, or a hospital or any other building, housing or anything. We have to go to central government. So we are all going to continue our call to bring about a unified command system in Delhi for governance. Harsh Vardhan: You see, let me first of all make it very clear that this has been our partys agenda right from the 60s that Delhi should have full statehood with all the powers with the state government and we have a better coordination amongst these various agencies that deliver various services to the people of Delhi. There has been only one instance in the last 50 years when we had Atal jees government in country and Advani jee had brought this full statehood for Delhi Bill in Parliament. Unfortunately the bill could not be cleared because before that the term of the government expired, the bill had to be referred to a select committee headed by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee because of some concerns raised by various opposition parties including the Congress. And that is how it could never see the light of the day as a past bill from Parliament. The first thing that I would like to do when we come back to power is to start demanding about the full statehood immediately. That is number one. And as soon as we have our government headed by Mr. Narendra Modi at the Centre, later after a couple of months I will persuade him to get this done because it is definitely you see creating lot of problems in the city. We can deal with security issues in a much, much better manner. We can plan in a better manner because if we do not have land then for every proposal or for every developmental activity even for opening a school, college or a hospital you have to depend on the Central government for getting land for that. It sometimes it becomes virtually very difficult rather impossible to be able to procure all these things. So that is certainly going to be a top priority issue. We feel so sad and you can say it is an unfortunate situation that we had a chief minister for 15 years and for 10 years she had the same Congress government at the Centre. But unfortunately Delhi has been denied this statehood even now. Arvind Kejriwal: Well try our level best to get Delhi full statehood, if we are elected to power. Well struggle with the Centre, if required for that but well ensure that Delhi gets full statehood Question: What is the one big agenda that you plan to go to the polls with? Why should people vote for you? Sheila Dikshit: Well, I can only say that the sound we brought out for this election says that Delhis progress should not stop and if you want Delhi to continue progressing then vote the congress. Harsh Vardhan: There are two things I would say. Number one they are witness to a government which has ruled for over 15 years now. And even after 15 years we feel that the government has virtually failed to deliver virtually on all the fronts. The issues like corruption, the issues like inflation, failure on water and power front, failure on education and health front, poor state of affairs on the JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies and the bad state of Yamuna. These are the reasons. Number one why they should have an alternative now? And we have a proven record of governance even when we were in Delhi. We started Metro and we started all these flyovers, and we have lot of things for which we got international appreciation. Now as far as our future is concerned, our vision is concerned, first thing I would like to ensure and promise to the people of Delhi is corruption free transparent government which will be people friendly and where we will have the highest level of transparency and as well as the highest level of e-governance and you can say e-procurement, everything, which will at least ensure because for most of the ills of the society, we find that the root cause is ultimately corruption. And if we can produce a system whereby people are not able to resort to corrupt practices inside the government system, outside the government system. So at every interface between the government and the society people are the accomplices. We will ensure that level of transparency plus the major issues will be taking care of the women security, taking care of the unemployment amongst youth, opening new colleges, ensuring skill development and ensuring more vocational institutions like the ITI because the young people are still deprived, having a universal health insurance scheme for the citizens of Delhi. Better living conditions for the people living in the unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters. And a clean and much better Yamuna. Plus on the power front we have to strengthen and substitute the present situation where we get all the requirements taken care of with thermal power. We have to develop the solar power in a much bigger way because that is gods gift to every citizen of the whole world. We have to make every house a solar power house. That is my passion and that is going to be my agenda. Arvind Kejriwal: Well give the people a transparent and corruption free government. BJP and Congress are both corrupt, the only way Delhi can be graft free is if we come to power. Question: How do you view the last 15 years of Sheila Dikshits rule? Sheila Dikshit: Well, I think we were elected in last 15 years, three chances and that is itself an indicator of peoples satisfaction. However, we are concerned as the party is aspiring to govern Delhi again. We have lots more to do, lots to achieve and we have done a lot, changed the face of Delhi. Every body recognises it, brought in the new ideas like the metro. Now we plan to bring the mono rail and also trams wherever it is possible. So that Delhi becomes a better city, more greenery, less pollution. Garbage is very huge problem. I am giving you some very small points you know. I think everything needs to be upgraded all the time. To raise the 50,000 children in Delhi studying in the universities, we need to make it 75,000 or 1 lakh. I think it is a constant going on the same path and also achieving your path or looking for new paths. Harsh Vardhan: I would summarise it in number one. The government has treated Delhi in a very casual manner. There has never been any meticulous and in-depth approach to the problems of the city. The government is now known for I think corruption and scams, inefficiency in all departments and it is known for inflation. It is known for corruption in the field of power, it is known for you can say 50 per cent water leakages and thefts. It is known for water thefts all over the city. Arvind Kejriwal: Just two words will summarise Sheila Dikshits rule - inflation and corruption Question: By how much do you think - rising prices of vegetables and electricity bills can affect the outcome of the Delhi elections and if voted to power, what do you plan to do to ensure that these concerns are met? Sheila Dikshit: Inflation is a temporary phase. Please remember that. They have already started coming down. Whenever onion and any other food item prices rise, the government of Delhi intervenes. We try and intervene and stabilise prices. Since Delhi is not an agricultural city we can only through our intervention see that the market becomes little more levelled than the spurts and they are softened. Power is concerned, I do not know why people are doing this. You get 24 hours power. You do not get in UP next door, you do not get it in Gurgoan. You do not get it anywhere. You are getting 24 hour power .It is the cheapest power in the country. And we give the people who use up to 200 units a subsidy of Rs1.20 per unit .We give people up 400 units a subsidy of 80 paisa per unit. We have brought down our losses from 52 per cent to 17 per cent. I think it has been one of the most successful stories of the power distribution; power production and power availability in our country. Why are people talking about it? And this is only a ploy of the opposition and if they say and they claim that, they are going to bring down the power bills by 30 per cent, all that I can say is well that they can bring down your consumption, please consume 30 per cent less and you will get, automatically your bills will come down. Harsh Vardhan: These are certainly two very important issues. Although there are other numbers of issues on which the people feel cheated by this government. When we talk the number one issue you said was this inflation. I think most of the time inflation, whether you talk of inflation in onion or you talk of 80 Rs kg tomatoes or whatever, mostly the cause is 99 per cent of the times it is hoarding and hoarding happens because there is an unholy alliance within the government system and the hoarders and the traders whosoever are dealing with the system and the government turns a blind eye to this because there is this unholy connection. So what I would propose and have said it earlier also that there has to be a food crisis commission which should have no interference from either the politicians or the bureaucrats. It should be a body of you can say experts form various fields like agriculture etc., whosoever are relevant for, they will have a close watch on the system. They will report directly to the chief of the government. They will actually ensure and suggest various measures. It will be some sort of a proactive action for ensuring that the inflation is checked. So this is going to be the number one thing. Regarding the issues of inflated power bills. I agree with you this is something which is hurting everyone. It is not the poor people who getting hurt and who are feeling the pinch of it. It is basically the middle class, even the upper middle class, even the government servants with the high salaries they are able to afford these heavy priced power bills. I have two-three suggestions on that account. Number one most of it is happening because of the unholy alliance between the government and the power companies. The accounts of the power companies have not been audited since the privatisation was done sometime in the early, it was 2002 or so. There has to be compulsory CAG audit of all the accounts so all those things that are shown and what is actually the position. It gets translated into a real benefit for the people. Then if the companies do not fall in line, we have to tell, them straightaway not like the present government which has shed tears only for the private companies never for the people. We would tell them that if they cannot be people friendly, if they cannot think about the people in an honest manner the government has to think otherwise, the government has to get other companies for competition to get these prices down. Plus as I said earlier if the solar power issue is adequately taken care of we can equip and strengthen every house with solar energy which will number one will be making them self sufficient, they can even have access to power which they can sell to the grid and they can even have carbon credits. It can be you can say a comprehensive approach to see that the power bills of the people are actually reduced. If we strengthen the solar system and give subsidy to the Delhi government like it is available form the Central government, we can even reduce the prices of the power even lower than 30 per cent which has been promised. But it actually has to be done. This government was supposed to do this. You see as per the DARC regulation and the advice the power companies has to get 3.4 per cent of the thing from the solar angle but the actual output after 15 years is just 0.1 per cent. This has happened because the government never wanted the solar thing to develop; they always wanted that power companies must be helped. Arvind Kejriwal: Well introduce Jan Lokpal Bill within a month of coming to power. Well make Delhi corruption free and then well take various steps to check price rise and inflation also. Question: Do you think this one of the toughest elections you are facing in the city with the AAP also in the fray? What are you chances of winning or you think it might be a hung Assembly? Sheila Dikshit: Well, I think the people of Delhi will give clear mandate because they are used to not to hotchpotch government. They are used to a good government. Which ever part they give full mandate to that will rule and I hope it will be a fully mandated government which comes. Otherwise this kind of hung Assembly will not be good for Delhi. Well, we go to the any election with great confidence. Tough election, like any election is tough. And your polls, I do not know what their basis of predictions are. The people will decide. Harsh Vardhan: I do not think so. The type of response I am receiving from the people. It is just beyond my vocabulary to actually describe that because you would say that I am exaggerating things. If I am honest to you also and what I am saying, you have to see that, the response is tremendous. People want to get rid of this present government which they feel has thoroughly cheated them. They are thoroughly disillusioned with this government. And I am thoroughly confident that the people of Delhi are very wise people. They are very intelligent people. They have been witness to so many elections. They know if they have to get rid of the present corrupt regime of the Congress, the only answer for them is BJP. And they would never like to waste their vote. Question: What do you think are your chances of victory? Or like most opinion polls you think itll be a hung Assembly? Arvind Kejriwal: We are coming to power, well get 47 seats.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 04:12:55 +0000