BJP poses questions to Arvind Kejriwal on AAP's water, power claims

NEW DELHI: Accusing the Aam Aadmi Party of "misleading" the people of Delhi on the issues of water and electricity, BJP today said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's poll campaign was based only on "lies" and aimed at reaping political mileage ahead of the February 7 Assembly elections.

Posing yet another bunch of five questions for AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said he is trying to "mislead" the people of the city by making false promises and on the basis of "rumours".

She said AAP has put up hoardings with comparative rates of electricity but strangely the hoardings carry comparison between lowest per unit rates of January 2014 and the highest per unit rates of January 2015.

This campaign is a clear "false campaign", she said and asked, "Is AAP ready to deny this fact or admit their lie?"

Challenging Kejriwal to prove the "real facts" of poster campaign on water tariff, she said AAP said that in its 49-day rule, water was free in Delhi while in January 2015 the charge was Rs 13 per kilolitre for domestic consumers.

"Nothing can be a bigger lie than this. In Delhi, the charge is only Rs 2.66 per kilolitre for domestic consumers. Rs 13 per kilolitre is applicable for industrial consumers. AAP should deny this fact or admit their lie," she said.

Asking the third question to the AAP leader, she said why "lies" in telling the real designation during his government service? "Kerjiwal, as an IRS, was only a Deputy Commissioner (Income Tax) but time and again it has been reported that he in his speeches at time says that I was a Commissioner or a Joint Commissioner, Income Tax," she said.

"In fact most of his tenure he was on some kind of a leave making foreign tours. Never transferred out of Delhi! Why? Indian Revenue Service too has raised the issue in its letter dated November 22 and asked him to never claim of having been a Commissioner... Truth is the IRS batch to which he belongs has not yet been promoted," she said.

"Why on Police Commissioner's presence or absence did you (Kejriwal) mislead with untruth and created anarchy like situation in January, 2014?" she asked.

The Union Minister also said that Kejriwal talks a lot on commitment. "First he ran away from Delhi responsibilities. He went to Varanasi and committed to the people 'Haaru Ya Jeetu Magar Baar Baar Aunga (whether I win or lose, I would regularly come to Varanasi)'. Can Kejriwal tell us how many times he has gone to Varanasi after the May 2014 elections?" she asked.