AAP questions 'silence' of BJP, Congress after DERC's no power hike announcement

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today claimed credit for the Delhi Electricity Authority Commission's (DERC) move to not hike power rates in the city at the end of its annual tariff determination process.

"It is for the first time in history of Delhi that power tariffs have not been increased. This was because the AAP government had ordered a CAG audit. The report of this audit has still not been made public, but whatever information is in the public domain reveals that it indicts power discoms.

"During the public meeting of the DERC, 15 AAP MLAs vehemently opposed any kind of hike in the tariffs," AAP's Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey said.

The ruling party also questioned the "silence" of BJP and Congress over the issue and accused the two parties of being "hand in glove" with the power discoms.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had yesterday attributed "honest politics" behind the DERC's decision of not announcing any power hike.

"Congratulations Delhiites. A big relief to u. No power tariff hike. I told u it was possible. All becoz of honest politics," Kejriwal had tweeted.

Pandey criticised Congress and BJP for not attending the DERC meetings on the issue.

"The power tariffs were always increased when the Congress was in power. Even when the BJP ruled Delhi for a year through Lt Governor. Why couldn't they stop power hike last time? The BJP and the Congress are silent on the issue as they are hand in glove with the power discoms," he said.

The AAP leader maintained that the party and the government will now work to bring down power tariffs.

The party also slammed the BJP over the attack on north-west Delhi District Magistrate Sanjay Goel.

Three persons, who claimed to be supporters of a BJP MP, were arrested for allegedly assaulting a District Magistrate after holding him hostage at his office in outer Delhi's Kanjhawla area yesterday.

"The attack shows that BJP is trying to protect the land mafia," party secretary Saurabh Bharadwaj said.