Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal during Delhi Election campaign
As the Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has made it abundantly clear that it would go solo in the forthcoming polls. Though the opposition coalition of INDIA lies in totters after the Haryana and Maharashtra polls, it is clear that the ruling party in Delhi will test the waters on its own.
Political analysts believe the AAP may make its own strategy, it may stick to its old tactics of freebies, slammed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “revdi culture” and go back to the voters playing the victim card.
AAP For Subalterns?
Immediately after coming out of jail on bail, the former Chief Minister took up the cudgel on behalf of the general masses, particularly subalterns including those living in slums.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Arvind Kejriwal said that he was targeted and put behind bars only because he worked for the poor and provided them with free electricity, water and medical care.
He pointed out that while the AAP managed the finances in a better and corruption-free way and saved money that was used to pay for their electricity bills, the saffron party worked for the big industrialists and business houses.
AAP Forces BJP To Change Tracks
The severe attack by the AAP has forced the BJP to change its track and come out with its own populist schemes and freebies. The saffron party has promised to continue with free electricity and water subsidies. It also announced to continue free rides for women in the DTC buses.
Such was the pressure of AAP’s politics of freebies that South Delhi BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri declared in a statement, “After the BJP’s victory in the assembly elections due in February, free facilities such as 200 units of electricity, 20,000 litres of water and bus travel for women will continue.”
BJP Adopts ‘Revdi Culture’?
Pulling out all stops, the Chairman of BJP Delhi Manifesto Committee assured the people that these facilities would be provided in a better way. He also said that a decision to implement the Ayushman Bharat health scheme would be taken in the first Cabinet meeting of a BJP government.
Upping the ante against the AAP, the leader of the saffron party claimed that as many as 40% of the residents in Delhi have no access to clean water. To drive home his point, he said that about 2,500 of the 7,500 samples collected by the Delhi Jal Board had failed.
Debunking the Delhi government’s claims on subsidy, Bidhuri said that the government slaps ‘unreasonable’ surcharges on electricity as the rates are as high as Rs.9 per unit for domestic and Rs 18 for commercial consumers.
The BJP said that while the commercial electricity consumption charge per unit in Haryana is Rs 8, it is Rs 18 to Rs 22 per unit in Delhi.
AAP Hits Back At BJP
The AAP has left no opportunity to exploit the situation and score brownie points over the issue.
Hitting back at the saffron party, it said in a statement, “The BJP previously opposed both these schemes of the AAP government and has been unable to provide free electricity and free bus travel in any of the 20 states it governs.”
Analysts have expressed concerns over the fact that the Delhi government has allocated an additional Rs. 350 crore for the power subsidy scheme revised budget estimates for 2024-25, besides the earlier allocation of Rs. 3,250 crore in March.
According to the government’s data, the AAP government has spent Rs 24,944.65 crore in the last 10 years from 2014-15 on the power subsidy. The electricity subsidy bill rose from Rs. 291.94 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 3,250 crore in 2024-25.
Congress Too Changes Tunes
The Congress Party is not much behind. In an attempt to beat the AAP in its own game, the party has promised to only provide the electricity subsidy, but also double it by taking it to 400 units.
Addressing the Dilli Nyay Yatra, Delhi Congress President Devender Yadav declared, “Congress will provide 400 units of free electricity when it comes to power, which will be an honest assurance unlike Kejriwal’s fake free power and water promises as he has only deceived the people…”
Kejriwal Attacks ‘Ab Nahi Sahenge, Badal Ke Rahenge’ Slogan
As the saffron party borrowed its successful Chhattisgarh campaign of “Ab Nahi Sahenge, Badal Ke Rahenge”, Arvind Kejriwal hit back.
Taking to the social media platform X, he wrote, “They officially announced they will change everything. That means electricity will be cut off for 24 hours, then long power cuts will start, free electricity will stop, electricity bills of thousands of rupees will start coming every month, free bus travel for women will stop…”
It is clear that the AAP has set the chessboard for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025, it has worked so diligently that all other parties have been forced to fall in the line and play the same card it has been playing for a decade.
Both the BJP and the Congress have come out with their own quotas of freebies, much to the glee of the AAP. Now they have to play according to the rules set by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
