Delhi polls: Smart city near Dwarka; Venkaiah Naidu woos voters

NEW DELHI: Noting that development of Delhi was inter-linked with the Centre, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today asked voters to give BJP a majority in the Assembly polls even as he promised development of a new ' Smart City' touching the national capital with Spain's help.

"Development of Delhi is inter-linked to the Centre. The national capital is inter-linked with the Central government. The Centre and Delhi government should work together,then only its development is possible. You need a party and a person who is willing to work together with Central government," he said.

The senior BJP leader said the Centre is firmly in the hands of BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he has the vision and has taken steps for integrated overall development of the country.

"Delhi needs better treatment, it needs more attention, needs beautification and more housing. We propose to develop a new smart city near Dwarka and will take the support of Spain's Barcelona for it," he announced.

He, however, said he has said this in Parliament earlier and was aware that the Election Commission may take note of the announcement.

Naidu also cited a host of steps taken by the government in past few months like regularisation of illegal colonies, conversion of lease-hold land to freehold, providing freehold rights to five chullah tax villages, simplification of Delhi building byelaws and enhancing FAR limits, besides declogging Delhi roads and reducing conversion charges of residential and commercial properties.

Taking a jibe at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, he said, "Some people are saying they will continue to sit in dharna even after coming to power. My best wishes to him."

Attacking AAP, he said, when the party launched itself, people saw a new ray of hope in them as they believed they would bring a sea change in the political system in the country but exposed itself in a short time and was found to be no better than Congress.

Attacking Congress, he said, the opposition party wants a hung Assembly and sought the support of Delhiites in strengthening the hands of Modi.

He also exhorted voters not to fall into the trap of AAP whose ideology was based on "falsehood", and reminded the roadblocks in development created by the opposition in Rajya Sabha by not allowing passage of Bills.

"Help strengthen the hands of Narendra Modi by supporting BJP. Also help increase BJP's strength in Rajya Sabha so as to remove the permanent speedbreakers that the opposition has created in the Upper House, stalling the speedy development initiated by Narendra Modi," he said, reminding people that Delhi has three members in Rajya Sabha.