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Honesty to be BJP's slogan in Delhi

"Imaandaar shaasan" (honest governance) will be the Bharatiya Janata Party's slogan in the Delhi assembly election, according to state unit president Mange Ram Garg and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Poornima Sethi.

Participating in an election special programme, to be telecast on Saturday on a private television channel, the two politicians said the biggest achievement of the BJP government in the state was that not a single minister had been charged with corruption in the last five years.

Refusing to accept the blame for the unprecedented rise in prices of vegetables, particularly onions, Sethi argued that Delhi does not produce any onions. Yet, the state government had managed to keep prices below Rs 50 per kilo, whereas in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka, where onions are grown, prices range from Rs 60 to Rs 80.

Garg said power consumption in the capital had risen from 1,550 MW in 1993 (when the BJP came to power) to 2,479 MW now. He said the power plant at Bawana was opened during the BJP's rule. During Congress rule, industrial workers had to work at night, he said.

Garg also claimed that 98 per cent of the schools that were run in tents five years ago had been shifted into buildings. Five new colleges had been set up and the 10 per cent outlay on education in this year's budget was the highest so far.

On the water situation, Sethi said that after the Delhi Jal (water) Board was formed, the number of water tankers has gone up from 25 five years ago to 400. The citizens of the capital had been given their rightful share of water after agreements with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, she said.

She claimed that her party had fulfilled 90 per cent of the promises made in its last election manifesto, and the others are under the Centre's consideration.

Building by-laws to allow construction of a fourth floor are being prepared and there is a court stay on giving ownership rights to residents of illegal colonies, she said with reference to two major promises that remain unfulfilled.

Criticising the Congress, Sethi said it did not even perform its role as an opposition party, and its 18 MLAs rarely attended the assembly. "They were not present during the budget and the no-confidence motion. Their representatives have also not attended business advisory committee meetings for the last two years," she said.

UNI

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