A senior AAP leader said the party will decide on Congress with its INDIA bloc partner for the Delhi Assembly polls in February next year, giving him confidence that people will give him a decisive mandate. Edited quote:
Now that you’re out of bond, what are your immediate plans?
Delhi Assembly polls are around the corner, so we will meet people and tell them that we have done a good job and will do more for them. After being out on bail, I have met people. We are telling the truth about the misinformation spread by the BJP. For example, Delhi BJP president (Virendra Sachdeva) took a dip in the Yamuna and said that the river has become dirty. He plunged into the Yamuna but did not faint. He fit in and gave a byte to the media. About three or four years ago, you must have fainted. So, he has proved that Yamuna has become better.
Assembly elections are just three months away, so what are AAP’s plans?
We are ready for the election. When Arvind Kejriwalyes out of jail, said that the election should be held as soon as possible. We don’t have to make separate plans. We just need to talk about the work that has been done. People know it too.
How do you balance the 10 years of anti-incumbency against your party, as many schemes of the Delhi government have been affected in the past?
Some schemes are affected but we are fixing it. If you put them all in jail at the same time – Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh – there will be some impact.
In the 2022 MCD elections, in the constituency of many AAP Ministers, the party performed badly. Even in the last Assembly elections, Manish Sisodia followed till 1 pm on the day of results. Don’t you think you will be affected in the polls because you have been away from your constituents for so long?
I was in jail when the MCD election results were declared. I didn’t study much. Also, MCD elections are different from Assembly elections. In 2015, I won about 3,100 votes and in the end, I won 7,700 votes. The margin increased two and a half times.
During COVID-19, people died in Delhi due to lack of hospital beds. Later, a project was started to increase the number of hospital beds but missed several deadlines. The High Court has also taken note. What happened?
They (the Centre) arrested me and now they are saying that the project has not been completed. During the pandemic, we have built two temporary hospitals with 500 beds every two weeks. If you take a moving train off the track, there will be some delay.
But senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj was appointed Health Minister after you.
LG is there to stop working too, right? Barriers are created in the sanction for various works.
AAP has been constantly demanding that the Center through the LG is obstructing the Delhi government. schema. So, will it not continue even if AAP is re-elected?
We want to install CCTV cameras in Delhi but LG is not giving permission. We protested at the LG Office and got the project sanctioned. He stopped the Mohalla Clinic. We protested and this started again. With this kind of vindictive government, we have to take extreme measures, but we will not stop. We have to fight.
AAP portrays Arvind Kejriwal as the face of the CM, but the bail conditions still say that he cannot go to the Delhi Secretariat or sign official files, except for those that require the approval of the LG. If AAP retains power, how will he become CM?
We will go to court with bail conditions. Right now, we are focusing on the election, after that we will go to court and fix it. This guarantee condition is not for eternity. Also, he has run the government from jail for four months, there is no bail bond that is more difficult than that.
How is the alliance with the Congress in the upcoming elections?
The decision will be taken by the party.
What are your realistic expectations from the upcoming elections?
The people of Delhi have always given us a decisive mandate. You asked how much we would get. Less than 10 seats or more than 60. People know that if we give 40-45 seats, they (BJP) will not let us work. They will try to overthrow our government. We didn’t get less than 10 seats right? We got more than 60. You bottom line is, either we will get more than 60 seats or less than 10 seats.
Published – 30 October 2024 01:08 IST
