News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • VHP asks Yogi government to remove one-child norm from its draft population control bill

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI/PATNA: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday faulted the “Uttar Pradesh population (control, stabilization and welfare) Bill, 2021” on the grounds that the proposal to promote the one-child norm will lead to imbalance among various communities. It stated that this has been a failed project even in China, where it was adopted three decades ago. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also lent a cautionary note to the proposed legislative proposal, saying that more than law, educating women can better achieve the aim.

    While the VHP welcomed the legislative proposal for its overall objective, its international general secretary Alok Kumar said that the fertility rate target of 1.7 per cent and encouraging one child through incentives should be reconsidered. In suggestions sent to state law commission of Uttar Pradesh, the VHP has argued that the proposal to incentivize government functionaries for having one child needs a relook. 

    “The population stability objective is achieved with a fertility rate above two per cent. Even with infant mortality, a fertility rate of 2.1 per cent can give the desired result of the population stability. The state should rather stick with a two-child policy,” said Kumar in his suggestions to the state law commission, arguing that there could be social and economic repercussions in the event of women on an average bearing less than two children.

    The VHP also claimed that the one-child policy can lead to imbalances among communities within the state by citing the example of Kerala and Assam, where Muslim fertility rates are 2.33 and 3.16, respectively, against less than 2.1 per cent of the Hindus. Meanwhile, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, while quoting the state’s model of population control through women education, said that only awareness can help lower the fertility rate, leading to population control in a natural way.

    “What the other states want to do, they should do it but we believe that population cannot be controlled by law alone. Unless women are educated, it is not possible to control the population,” he said.The chief minister stressed that women’s education has helped significantly in checking fertility rate in Bihar. Drawing a parallel with China, he said: “A policy of one child was adopted by China, but we all know the prevailing situation and the consequent course correction in the state policy.” 

    Nitish cited an example of how education can help bring down fertility rate. “Surveys that have been conducted so far have shown that if the woman is educated, then the fertility rate also decreases. Fertility rate has been found to be low in matriculate and inter-educated women in Bihar,” he stressed.In Bihar, he said, adequate attention is paid to education of girls and the results are encouraging. “Of late, fertility rate in Bihar has come down to three per cent from about four per cent. Our understanding is, fertility rate will start declining after 2040, leading to better and more effective population control.” 

    Notice for discussionBJP Lok Sabha MP Ravi Kishan has given a notice of private member Bill on population control notice. Another BJP MP Kirori Lal Meena wants the Rajya Sabha to consider a private member Bill on uniform civil code. In 2019, BJP’s Rakesh Sinha gave a notice of a private member Bill on population. Overall, the two Houses of Parliament have seen 35 private member Bills on the issue, so far. 

  • UP: BJP MLA asks villager to swear he had voted for party to get lights at home

    By PTI
    SHAHJAHANPUR: A video has gone viral in which an Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA is purportedly shown asking a villager to allegedly swear that the man had voted for the saffron party, when the legislator was requested to install lights in his home.

    In the video that went viral on Monday, Veer Vikram Singh (Prince), the MLA from Katra Assembly constituency in Shahjahanpur, was addressing a tree plantation programme held recently and listing the development works done by him when a villager had requested him to install lights at his home.

    To this, the legislator said, “You swear either pointing towards river Ganga or by your son and say that you have voted for us (BJP), and I will get the lights installed at your home. You expect something from a person, whom you have given something.”

    As the villager said that he was just making a request, the BJP MLA replied, “Request that person, whom you had given something. Had you given (me your vote), you would have the right to stand on my chest. Don’t try to fool me. My father has been a four-time MLA. I am an MLA.”

    “Do you think that I don’t know how many votes I have got at each booth. You could have complained, if you had voted for me, and I had not provided you lights,” the legislator further said in the video.

    Speaking to PTI later on the issue, Singh said, “The villager was exerting pressure on me to install lights in his home. The cost of such lights is Rs 10 lakh. In this situation, the lights can be installed at public places under a government scheme.”

    Reacting to the statement, former SP MLA Rajesh Yadav said, “After winning the elections, an MLA is a representative for everybody. Who has voted for him, and who has not voted does not count. Indulging in vote politics, and asking people to swear by such things does not suit an MLA.”

  • Mamata’s election petition against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari assigned to new HC judge

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s victory from Nandigram constituency in the assembly elections has been assigned to the bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar, court sources said here on Monday.

    The matter is likely to be listed before the court of Justice Sarkar on Wednesday, the sources said.

    Justice Kausik Chanda had on July 7 recused from hearing the Trinamool Congress supremo’s petition challenging the election of Adhikari from Nandigram, and imposed a cost of Rs five lakh on her for the manner in which the recusal was sought.

    Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal assigned the matter to the court of Justice Sarkar.

    Adhikari defeated Banerjee from the Nandigram constituency by 1,956 votes in the assembly election held earlier in the year.

    Releasing the election petition of Banerjee on an application by her for recusal expressing apprehension of bias against her by his bench, Justice Chanda had said that he was doing so in order to thwart at the outset attempts by trouble-mongers to keep the controversy alive.

    Banerjee’s lawyers had suggested that Justice Chanda should recuse himself from the case since he was associated with the legal cell of the BJP before his elevation as a Judge and had appeared in a number of cases on behalf of the said party before the high court as a lawyer.

    Her lawyer had suggested during his submissions before the court that there is a conflict of interest since Justice Chanda had a close relationship with the BJP and the petitioner has challenged the election of a BJP candidate.

    In its order, the court had said that it is preposterous to suggest that a judge having a past association with a political party as a lawyer should not receive a case involving the said political party or any of its members.

    Justice Chanda had noted that like any other citizen of the country, a judge also exercises his voting rights in favour of a political party, but he lays aside his individual predilection while deciding a case.

  • UP rural polls violence: BJP leader, Priyanka attack Yogi Adityanath; Editors Guild demands strict action against official

    By PTI
    BALLIA: Uttar Pradesh BJP working committee member Ram Iqbal Singh on Monday attacked the Yogi Adityanath government over the violence in the recently held elections for block panchayat heads and said the BJP is no longer a party with a difference.

    Speaking to reporters here, Singh said, “This is not the BJP of Ataljee (late Atal Bihari Vajpayee). We used to know the BJP as a party with a difference. But now, we have deleted this.”

    “Now, there is no difference between the principles of the BJP and other parties,” the former MLA said.

    Singh accused the BJP of committing irregularities in the panchayat elections.

    “The incident with a woman in Lakhimpur Kheri reminds us of Draupadi’s ‘cheerharan’ (disrobing). Using unethical means can fulfil the ambitions only for a few days, but not in the long run,” he said.

    Singh also referred to the poll violence in Etawah in which a police official was slapped by BJP workers amid violence during the elections.

    Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, alleging that the BJP misused power to “trample” on democracy in the elections.

    In a Facebook post in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi said that despite the “massive violence” during the block panchayat chief polls Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Adityanath hailed the victory attributing it to their policies.

    But, the BJP including the prime minister, remained silent on the “violence and hooliganism” during the elections, the Congress general secretary in-charge Uttar Pradesh said.

    The people of the state saw the “violence and hooliganism” perpetrated by BJP workers and were angered by it, she said.

    Priyanka Gandhi listed several incidents to claim that the violence was perpetrated by BJP workers to secure victory.

    She alleged that by misusing power, the BJP tried to “crush democracy with its jungle raj” in these elections.

    The Congress leader also alleged that in the Badpura block of Etawah, Superintendent of Police (SP), City, Prashant Kumar was slapped by BJP MLA Sarita Bhadauria’s workers, dozens of rounds were fired and the SP was heard saying on camera that the BJP workers had brought bombs.

    Weapons, sticks and inflammable substances have been recovered from the vehicle of BJP candidate’s supporters in the first block of Sitapur, she claimed, adding that a young man has also been arrested.

    BJP leaders created a ruckus outside the Shivgarh block complex of Rae Bareli, she alleged.

    During the nomination on July 9 in Pasgawan block of Lakhimpur district, BJP supporters did not allow a woman candidate of the opposition party to file her nomination and her as well as her proposer’s sari was pulled and they were beaten up, Priyanka Gandhi alleged.

    In her post, she also cited several other instances of violence and intimidation during the polls.

    BJP leaders and workers resorted to violence in at least more than 50 places in the election in which the victory was hailed by the prime minister and chief minister.

    The law and administration remained a mute spectator, Priyanka Gandhi said.

    Everyone, including the prime minister and the chief minister, know that there is a lot of resentment among the people due to their anti-people policies in UP, she said.

    “Now they have tried to hide their failure through kidnappings, shootings, bombings, beating police personnel, abusing power and mistreating women,” she alleged.

    “But the question is, did the prime minister, who was congratulating BJP workers, not know how his workers pulled women’s saris and beat them up?” Priyanka Gandhi said.

    “Did the BJP’s exploits of bombs, bullets and stone-pelting happen under the supervision of the prime minister, the chief minister,” she asked.

    She also asked whether the BJP knows that its last days are near, and is therefore busy tearing apart democracy through violence.

    The BJP on Saturday claimed victory on 635 of the total 825 seats of block panchayat chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, where the local bodies elections were held amid incidents of violence with the opposition alleging misuse of official machinery by the ruling party.

    The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Monday demanded “strict action” against an Uttar Pradesh government official for assaulting a journalist in Unnao district of the state last week.

    “Concrete steps” should be taken to improve the environment for independent journalism in Uttar Pradesh, the guild said in a statement, adding that it was “deeply disturbed” by “the continuing trend” of heavy-handedness by the authorities in the state with respect to journalists and the media.

    The statement noted that Chief Development Officer Divyanshu Patel assaulted Krishna Tiwari in Unnao on July 10 when the journalist was covering polling for the block pramukh elections.

    The officer later apologised to the journalist for the incident.

    “In a video that has gone viral on social media, Krishna Tiwari, a local journalist, is seen being beaten up by Divyanshu Patel (CDO), as well as reportedly some BJP workers,” the Editors Guild said.

    The guild termed the incident “highly condemnable and actionable”, and said even though that CDO apologized to the journalists, the attitude of heavy-handedness by the administration is hurting the democratic rights of the media, which becomes all the more crucial given that the state goes into polls next year.

    “EGI demands strict action be taken against the official and that concrete steps be taken to improve the environment for independent journalism in the state,” it added.

    The editors body said the latest incident of assault on a journalist by a state authority has come against the backdrop of “increased persecution” of journalists in Uttar Pradesh, “as the administration has punished, penalized, and incarcerated journalists in an effort to intimidate them from freely reporting on crimes, state excess, and the management of the pandemic”.

    Siddique Kappan, a journalist who was arrested while reporting on the rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras in October 2020, continues to remain in jail under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, “despite several appeals by the family and the civil society to afford him a fair trial and treatment,” the EGI added.

  • Punjab sacrilege incidents: Navjot Sidhu attacks previous Badal government

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday raised the issue of the 2015 sacrilege incidents, but this time he chose to attack the previous SAD-BJP dispensation for not holding a proper probe into the matter, instead of his own government in Punjab.

    This comes days after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi, amid efforts by the party leadership to end factionalism in its unit in the poll-bound state.

    Sidhu had been openly attacking Singh, alleging delay in the delivery of justice in a case related to desecration of a religious text and the subsequent police firing incidents at Faridkot in 2015.

    He has been critical of the chief minister after the Punjab and Haryana High Court in April quashed a probe into the 2015 firing case In a series of tweets on Monday, Sidhu said, “Pertinent questions of People of Punjab on Beadbi issue to Badals :- 1. Why no proper inquiry by Badal government into theft of “Bir of Guru Granth Sahib Ji” at Village Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015, which led to sacrilege, followed by protests and firing in October 2015.”

    He also asked, “What were the actions taken against officers who falsely implicated two brothers, Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh for sacrilege?”. 

    Why had the erstwhile Parkash Singh Badal government not taken action in the sacrilege matter, the Congress leader asked.

    “Why no action taken by Badal government during two years in sacrilege cases before 2017 elections, despite Justice (Retd.) Zora Singh Commission inquiry report and SIT (Special Investigation Team) led by Ranbir Singh Khatra pointing needle of suspicion to Dera Sacha Sauda men?” he said.

    Sidhu also tweeted, “Have asked every relevant question on Beadbi issue to everyone who should be held accountable over the past few months and in the last six years. What is the point in repeating but questions must be asked to the real culprits, the Badals. Repeating but questions must be asked to the real culprits, the Badals”.

  • BJP to introduce private members’ bills on population control, uniform civil code in Monsoon session

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP MPs will introduce private members’ bills on population control and uniform civil code in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, according to information from the secretariats of both Houses.

    The private members’ bill on population control comes close on the heels of the law commission of BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, putting up a draft bill on the issue on its website, inviting suggestions from the public till July 19.

    BJP Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Ravi Kishan and Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan Kirori Lal Meena are scheduled to introduce the private members’ bills on population control and uniform civil code respectively in the very first week of the Parliament session which is starting from July 19.

    A bill introduced by a member other than a minister is known as a private member’s bill and there is little possibility of it becoming a law without the government’s support.

    The proposed legislations on population control and uniform civil code, issues that usually trigger heated polemics in the country, are in line with the BJP’s ideological agenda.

    Opposition parties have criticised the BJP’s moves in this regard, claiming that they are aimed at targeting one specific community, while the BJP has accused them of pursuing appeasement politics.

    According to the details available with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats, Kishan and Meena will get an opportunity to introduce their respective private members’ bills on July 24, which was decided through the lottery system.

    A notice for a similar bill on population control has also been given by BJP MP in Rajya Sabha Rakesh Sinha.

    The proposed legislations on population control emphasise on deincentivising couples having more than two children, by making them ineligible for government jobs and subsidies on various facilities and goods given by the government.

    The draft UP population control bill says people having more than two children will be debarred from contesting local bodies polls, applying for government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy.

    Similar legislation is under discussion in another BJP-ruled state Assam.

    Meanwhile, Vishva Hindu Parishad, a member of the ruling BJP’s ideological family, has objected to the one-child policy norm of the draft population control bill in UP, saying it is likely to further increase the imbalance between different communities and contract the population as well.

    “The preamble of the bill states that this is a bill, inter alia, to stabilise the population and promote the two-child norm. The Vishva Hindu Parishad agrees with both objects,” the organisation’s working president, Alok Kumar, said in a letter to the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission (UPSCL) on Monday.

    However, Sections 5, 6(2) and 7 of the bill, which incentivise public servants and others to have only one child in the family, go “well beyond the said objects”, he said.

    Asked about the bill he intends to introduce, Sinha said population growth has been ringing an “alarm bell” for the country and asserted that a central law is “most required” as it will be applicable across the nation.

    The unchecked population growth needs to be regulated, he said.

    Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a critical intervention in the debate over the issue during his speech on August 15, Sinha said that Modi had called for a balance between resources and population.

    The discourse over the issue should not be seen through caste and religious angles, Sinha said.

    According to PRS Legislative, no private members’ bills have been passed by Parliament since 1970.

    A total of 14 such bills have received Parliament’s nod.

  • Punjab: BJP leaders confined to house by protesting farmers rescued after late night HC order

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Around a dozen BJP leaders confined to a house in Patiala’s Rajpura for nearly 12 hours allegedly by protesting farmers were rescued early Monday following a late night Punjab and Haryana High Court order to the state police.

    Scores of farmers had Sunday laid siege to a BJP worker’s house where several party leaders including Punjab unit general secretary Subhash Sharma and Patiala incharge Bhupesh Aggarwal had gathered after the protesters disrupted their meeting.

    The BJP leaders petitioned the Punjab and Haryana High Court through their lawyers, saying they were illegally detained by a mob at a house in Rajpura.

    Advocate Jagjot Singh Laali, one of the lawyers, said a habeas corpus petition was filed around 11 pm Sunday and a hearing through video conferencing took place around 11:30 pm.

    A habeas corpus petition is filed for producing before a court a person who is under arrest or in unlawful detention.

    The court of Justice Suvir Sehgal Sunday night directed the Punjab Police to ensure the petitioners are provided a safe exit with adequate security and that no harm is caused to them.

    The court had also asked for a report to be submitted before it by Monday 2 pm.

    During the hearing on Monday, the court was informed that two FIRs have been registered in the case — one with regard to the alleged confinement of petitioners in a house in Guru Arjun Dev colony, and the other over the alleged manhandling of some BJP leaders near a grain market in Rajpura.

    Patiala Deputy Superintendent of Police (Rajpura Rural) Jaswinder Singh said the BJP leaders were taken out of the house around 4 am Monday.

    Police used mild cane-charge to disperse the protesters.

    The court was also informed that the petitioners were taken out of the house safely.

    Meanwhile, the senior Punjab BJP leadership staged a protest against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh over the incident.

    Party workers also held protests at other places of the state including Ludhiana, Fazilka, Mansa, Amritsar and Gurdaspur.

    It all started Sunday when the protesting farmers allegedly disrupted a district-level BJP meeting at Rajpura on Sunday following which the party leaders and workers had gathered at the residence of a party worker.

    Also, when local leader Shanti Sapra was being escorted out, protesters carrying black flags chased him down the street and allegedly manhandled him.

    A large number of farmers then reached the house and laid siege.

    Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma, who was present among others in the house, said the protesters had even disconnected the power supply which also led to a water shortage.

    Sharma alleged the protesters damaged the vehicles of some BJP leaders, besides the windscreen of a police van.

    He also alleged the protesters hurled bricks at them when they were being taken out of the house by the police.

    Sharma said they would be lodging an FIR in this matter.

    On their part, the farmers alleged the BJP workers used inappropriate language against the protesters and a security man of BJP leader Bhupesh Aggarwal allegedly brandished a pistol at them.

    They were demanding an apology from the BJP for the same.

  • RJD leader meets Chirag Paswan, urges him to be part of anti-BJP alliance

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shyam Rajak has met Lok Janshakti Party’s Chirag Paswan and later called for him to be part of a united opposition alliance against the BJP-led NDA in Bihar as the Dalit leader looks for his political options after being snubbed by the saffron party.

    Paswan has also spoken to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Rajak told PTI, adding that he should join forces with another young leader Tejashwi Yadav to take on the NDA.

    RJD’s Yadav is the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly and had led a spirited fight against the ruling BJP-JD(U) alliance in the last year’s state polls but had fallen just short of victory.

    Rajak, once a close aide of JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and now in the RJD, said his visit to Paswan’s house was “personal” in nature but added that political talks take place when politicians meet.

    There is a need for building a united anti-BJP alliance over the issues of the interests of Dalit and backward castes, the RJD leader said.

    He said Chirag Paswan is the natural heir to his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy.

    With Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducting Paswan’s uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who has joined hands with four other MPs of his party against the son of the late Dalit stalwart, as Cabinet minister in his government, political options for the young LJP leader seem limited.

    RJD leaders have been speaking in support of Chirag Paswan and urging him to join hands with the opposition alliance in Bihar.

    Though he has no MLAs with him, Paswan’s decision to formally break ties with the BJP and join the rival camp will be a psychological boost to it.

    Paswan has, however, made it clear that his current priority is to strengthen his party, and he has launched “aashirvaad yatra” in the state for the purpose.

    With Bihar having no major electoral battle for quite some time, there is no immediate reason for him to decide on his next course of action.

    In his remarks, the Jamui MP has often expressed his anguish at the BJP for not coming to his help during the crisis in his party but has still refrained from attacking its leadership.

    The LJP has six Lok Sabha MPs and five of them have elected Paras as their leader in the House.

  • Infighting in Bengal BJP: Dilip Ghosh cautions party leaders against airing critical views

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: With several West Bengal BJP leaders airing critical views, state party chief Dilip Ghosh said on Monday that many of these opinions are against the saffron party’s interests, after he met its national president J P Nadda here.

    Ghosh told reporters that he apprised Nadda of the political situation in the state and also of the BJP’s affairs there.

    MP Saumitra Khan had spoken out after failing to find a place in the recent expansion of the Union Council of Ministers while Babul Supriyo, who was dropped in the exercise, had written on Facebook that he was asked to quit before deleting the statement.

    Rajib Banerjee, who had quit the ruling Trinamool Congress to join the BJP, has also been making critical statements after the saffron party lost in the assembly polls.

    Without naming the erring leaders, Ghosh said that such statements affect the morale of party workers.

    “I have apprised him of the different opinions that have been aired in public, how they spoke without thinking. This dampens the morale of the party workers and should be stopped. The statements which should have expressed internally have been expressed publicly,” said Ghosh.

    Speaking further on the leaders who have made out-of-line public statements, Ghosh said that disciplinary action could be taken against them if they continue to make such statements.

    The growing discord in the BJP’s Bengal unit came to the fore also when Khan stepped down from the post of the party’s state youth wing chief and took to Facebook to launch a blistering attack on Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, claiming that he tries to take credit for all achievements.

    Later, however, he withdrew his resignation.

    “This is against the interests of the party. The party has a disciplinary committee, they will decide. I understand that they must have said this from frustration or for some other reason. However, if there is no change, disciplinary action will be taken,” he said.

    On his role as the chief of the party unit in Bengal, Ghosh said that he will continue as long as the party wants him to.

    Asked about the induction of four first-times MPs from the state in the Union Council of Ministers, he said the BJP grooms new people by giving them more responsibility.

    “It is good for the party in Bengal that we have representatives in the cabinet. I am very happy,” he said.

    Ghosh also took a dig at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party TMC has said that it will unite the opposition parties on the petrol price issue in Parliament and project the CM as a national leader.

    “She has tried to be a national leader for many years. Who has heard her? Let her concentrate on Bengal and try and work towards the welfare of the people in the state,” said Ghosh.

  • Development only agenda of BJP government: Uttarakhand CM on Kejriwal’s promise of free electricity

    By PTI
    DEHRADUN: On Arvind Kejriwal promising free electricity up to 300 units to each family in Uttarakhand if the AAP is voted to power, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday said the BJP government’s only agenda is steering the state on the path of development.

    “Elections could be someone’s only agenda, but our agenda is that of development — finishing on priority projects, the foundation stones of which have been laid, taking the works done by the Narendra Modi government (at the Centre) in the state to people,” Dhami told reporters, without naming anyone at the Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi.

    Asked whether the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could pose a challenge to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Uttarakhand Assembly polls due early next year, he said the only challenge that lies before the saffron party is to take the state forward on the path of development.

    Dhami said a lot has been done in the state in the last four years, especially in the infrastructure sector.

    “If you visit Uttarakhand, you get to see the tremendous amount of work that has been done. So much work has been done on the all-weather road project. The Dehradun-Delhi highway has also been widened and improved,” he said.

    Replying to a question, Dhami said there is no resentment among the members of his cabinet on his elevation as chief minister.

    “Most of my ministerial colleagues are my seniors who have experience. We are all working as a team to steer the state on the path of development,” he said.

    “Our former chief ministers have also done well. We have to take forward their good work,” he added.

    Dhami said he has met the central leaders of the BJP, including Prime Minister Modi, and submitted a string of proposals related to the state’s development to them.

    Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal visited Dehradun on Sunday and promised to give free electricity up to 300 units to every family in Uttarakhand, waive old bills, ensure that there are no power cuts and give free electricity to farmers if the AAP is elected to power in the state.

    “You have lied to the people of Delhi and now you are lying to the people of Uttarakhand.

    “If you are giving free electricity to the people of Delhi, what is the money being taken from people in the name of surcharge, energy charge and fix charge,” BJP’s national chief spokesperson Anil Baluni asked in a video released after the Delhi chief minister’s announcement in Dehradun.

    Alleging that Kejriwal had failed to keep his promises of free water, mohalla clinics and upgrading government schools in Delhi, Baluni said he had thought the Delhi chief minister will tell the truth in ‘Devbhoomi’ and “atone for his sins, but here too he lied”.

    “It is Devbhoomi ( land of gods). It does not accept people who lie. You have no scope for doing politics in Uttarakhand.”

    “You had promised free drinking water to the people of Delhi. But residents of the national capital are forced to drink water from tankers. The truth of mohalla clinics came before people during the COVID pandemic.

    You could not make even one hospital in so many years,” he said, adding the Aam Aadmi Party’s “tall claims about upgrading government schools have also fallen flat”.

    Asked whether the AAP could pose a challenge to the BJP in Uttarakhand in the assembly polls due early next year, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “The only challenge that lies before us is taking the state forward on the path of development”.

    “Election could be someone’s only agenda. But our agenda is that of development, completing the priority projects whose foundation stones have been laid and taking the works done by the Narendra Modi Government in the state to people,” Dhami told reporters without naming anyone at Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi.

    Kejriwal on Sunday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party will ensure free electricity up to 300 units per month to every family, waive old bills and give free electricity to farmers if it is voted to power in Uttarakhand assembly elections next year.