AAP vows full statehood for Delhi in manifesto

New Delhi, AAP leader, Arvind Kejriwal, full statehood, AAP manifesto, Aam Aadmi Party

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday released its manifesto for the Delhi assembly elections on February 7, promising to give the city full statehood and make it a trade hub besides reducing power tariff.

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal (above) said the party wants to transform Delhi into a trade, tourist, education and service hub. File pic

The manifesto also promised to enhance women's safety by installing CCTV cameras, open 20 new colleges, provide clean
drinking water at affordable prices and a free Wi-Fi zone, among others.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who released the manifesto, said it was a sacred document for his party akin to the "Gita, Bible, Quran, and Guru Granth Sahib".

Giving a road map for creating more employments, the former chief minister said, "We wish to make Delhi a trade, tourist, education and service hub. This will help in generating more employment in the city." Besides this, passing Janlokpal and Swaraj bills are also on the priority list of the AAP government.

"We want every woman to feel safe and secure. Over 10 lakh CCTV cameras will be installed across the capital. A security guard will be deployed in every government bus," Kejriwal said. He said the manifesto will be implemented soon after coming to power as they had done in their earlier rule. Power tariff will be reduced by 50 per cent, he added.

Taking a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not coming out with a manifesto, Kejriwal said the BJP was shying away from making any promises as they had not fulfilled any of the promises they had made at the time of the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

"What to say about fulfilling promises? They (BJP) have not taken any steps in that direction," the AAP leader said, adding, "The BJP had talked of bringing down the cost of electricity but it has been hiked twice since they came to power."

The BJP has announced that it will abstain from releasing a manifesto for the Delhi polls and will instead come up with a ‘vision document'. However, the party posed its third set of five questions for Kejriwal.

Party leader Ananth Kumar asked him to answer why power tariff was raised by 7 per cent in his 49-day rule last year and why the subsidy was given to the power companies directly, among other questions.

Also on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the AAP, dubbing it the party of "back-stabbers" and "betrayers", while asking voters in Delhi to give the BJP full majority in the Assembly polls. Without naming AAP, Modi said, "People can make a mistake once, but not again and again.

One year back, Delhi people had voted with dreams. Those whom you voted shattered your dreams," Modi said at a rally in Delhi's Karkardooma area.