New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today unveiled AAP’s ’10 guarantees’ if his party wins the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Mr Kejriwal’s assurances encompass a broad spectrum of public welfare initiatives, including pledges for free electricity and improved healthcare.

“BJP has always failed on its promises; my guarantees have proven track record,” Mr Kejriwal said. “People have to take a call whether to go for ‘Kejriwal ki Guarantee’ or ‘Modi Guarantee.”

At the forefront of Mr Kejriwal’s electoral promises is the assurance of free electricity for all, particularly targeting the economically backward sections of society. The AAP chief advocated for replicating Delhi’s model of uninterrupted power supply nationwide. 

“Out of the 10 guarantees, the first guarantee is that we will provide 24-hour electricity in the country. The country has the capacity to generate 3 lakh MW of electricity but the usage is only 2 lakh MW. Our country can produce more electricity than the demand. We have done it in Delhi and Punjab, we will do it in the country also. We will provide up to 200 units of free electricity to all the poor. It will cost Rs 1.25 lakh crore, we can arrange it,” Mr Kejriwal said. 

Second on Mr Kejriwal’s poll guarantees list is revamping education in government schools. The Delhi Chief Minister claimed that Rs 5 lakh crore will be required to remedy that and that state governments and the Centre should pay Rs 2.5 lakh crore each to make up for the total cost. 

“Today, the condition of our government schools is not good. Our second guarantee is that we will arrange good and excellent free education for everyone. Government schools will provide a better education than private schools. We have done it in Delhi and Punjab. Rs 5 lakh crore will be required for this. State governments will give Rs 2.5 lakh crore and central government will give Rs 2.5 crore for this,” he said. 

The AAP national convener also put a Rs 5 lakh crore price tag to overhaul government hospitals and improve India’s healthcare infrastructure. 

“The condition of our government hospital is not good in our country. Our third guarantee is better healthcare. We will arrange good treatment for everyone. Mohalla clinics will be opened in every village, every locality. District hospital will be converted into a Multispeciality Hospital. Every person born in this country will get free treatment. Treatment will not be done on the basis of insurance as this is a big scam. We will create infrastructure. Rs 5 lakh crore rupees will be spent on healthcare,” Mr Kejriwal said. 

Other guarantees on the list, according to Mr Kejriwal, are “freeing” Indian land from Chinese control, shutting down the Agniveer scheme, providing farmers MSP as per the Swaminathan Commission report and a full statehood to Delhi. 

“Our fourth guarantee is ‘Nation first’. China has occupied our land but our central govt is denying it…There is a lot of strength in our army. All the land of the country which has been occupied by China will be freed. For this, efforts will be made at the diplomatic level on one side and the Army will be given complete freedom to take whatever steps it wants to take regarding this. A scheme like Agniveer is harmful for the army and the youth are also troubled by it. The Agniveer scheme will be withdrawn,” Mr Kejriwal said. 

Mr Kejriwal, who was arrested by the probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case, was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday.

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi dared Naveen Patnaik to name all the districts of Odisha and their district headquarters without referring to any notes as a test of his knowledge of a state he has governed since 2000, the chief minister has hit back and reminded the PM of all his forgotten promises.

The Biju Janata Dal chief – who was seen as close to PM Modi, had supported the BJP in crucial votes in Parliament, and was reportedly also in talks for an alliance with the party – also accused the PM of ignoring the “brave sons of Odisha” for the Bharat Ratna, including his father and former chief minister Biju Patnaik, as well as the Odia language.

In a video statement on Saturday, Mr Patnaik said he was asked how much he knew about Odisha and then turned the question on its head and asked the Prime Minister how much he remembered about the state and the promises he had made to it. 

“Even though Odia is a classical language, you forgot about it. You allotted Rs 1,000 crore to Sanskrit but zero to Odia. You have forgotten about Odissi music too. I sent two proposals to grant classical status to Odissi music, but you rejected both of them. There are so many brave sons of Odisha, some of whom you spoke about today. Don’t any of them deserve the Bharat Ratna, including the great son of Odisha, Biju Patnaik,” he asked.

The chief minister accused the Prime Minister of forgetting his promise to the farmers of the state to double the minimum support price and said he should have kept the people of Odisha in mind and built the coastal highway – which has been in the works for a while – but forgot about that too. 

Coal is Odisha’s natural wealth, Mr Patnaik said, and claimed the PM had “forgotten” to increase the royalty paid for that in 10 years.

“Remembering Odisha only during elections will not help. Do you remember the promises you had made in 2014 and 2019? The people of Odisha remember your promise to reduce prices of LPG, petrol and diesel, to create 2 crore jobs, to provide mobile connectivity to all, to reduce and waive GST. The people of the state have not forgotten any of these,” he said.

Reacting to the PM’s claim that Odisha, where Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections will begin on Monday, will get a BJP chief minister on June 10, the BJD chief said nothing would happen on that date or even in 10 years. 

“The BJP can’t win the hearts of the people of Odisha. With Lord Jagannath’s blessings and the love of the people of Odisha, the BJD will form the government in Odisha for the sixth time,” he said. 

Addressing a rally in Odisha’s Kandhamal earlier in the day, the PM had issued the dare and also said he has a strong emotional connection with the state.

“I want to challenge ‘Naveen Babu’ as he has been the Chief Minister for so long. Can he name the districts of Odisha and their respective capitals without seeing them on paper. If the chief minister cannot name the districts of the state, will he know your pain,” the Prime Minister asked. 

“Odisha offers me immense love and support. I will repay every ounce of your trust by selflessly serving the country,” he said.

Surat:

Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to BJP winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat unopposed, resurfaced on Saturday after 20 days and alleged it was the grand old party that had betrayed him first in 2017.

Nilesh Kumbhani said he was silent all these days because of his respect for state party president Shaktisinh Gohil and the party’s Rajkot Lok Sabha candidate Paresh Dhanani.

“Congress leaders are accusing me of betrayal. However, it was the Congress which betrayed me first in the 2017 assembly elections when my ticket for Kamrej Assembly seat in Surat was cancelled at the last moment. It was the Congress which made the first mistake, not me,” Nilesh Kumbhani told reporters here.

“I did not want to do this but my supporters, office staff and workers were upset because the party is being run by five self-proclaimed leaders in Surat and they neither work nor allow others to work. Though AAP and Congress are part of INDIA alliance, these leaders raised objections when I used to campaign with AAP leaders here,” he claimed.

Asked if the turn of events in the ongoing Lok Sabha poll was his revenge on the Congress, Nilesh Kumbhani refused to give a direct reply and reiterated his charge about cancellation of ticket in the 2017 state polls.

Nilesh Kumbhani, who had earlier served as a Congress corporator in the Surat Municipal Corporation, fought the 2022 assembly polls from Kamrej but lost to the BJP.

On April 21, Nilesh Kumbhani’s nomination form was rejected after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming they had not signed on the document.

Incidentally, the nomination form of the Congress’ substitute candidate Suresh Padsala was also rejected, ending the party’s presence in the fray.

On April 22, BJP’s Mukesh Dalal was declared elected unopposed from Surat after all other candidates, including one from the BSP, withdrew their nominations.

Due to a pre-poll alliance with Congress, the AAP had not fielded its candidate from Surat.

Nilesh Kumbhani had gone incommunicado since April 22. He was later suspended by the Congress, which blamed him for the rejection of the nomination form and also accused him of “connivance with the BJP”.

Lok Sabha polls were held in a single phase in Gujarat on May 7. Results for 25 out of the state’s 26 seats will be declared on June 4. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad:

Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, the country’s richest candidate in this election who declared assets worth Rs 5785 crore, is candid about money and elections and the link between them. He also feels that his status as the richest candidate should not count.  

“I don’t know why you guys are focusing so much on the money aspect,” Dr Pemmasani told NDTV in an exclusive interview. “Unfortunately, these days, politics has become an expensive process. Not that is that is the change. Actually, we all need to discuss about it, right? Not common people cannot contest in any of these elections,’ he added.

Dr Pemmasani is the candidate from Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, which is back in the NDA fold after around six years. He is contesting from Guntur, where the party’s last candidate was also well-off.

But two-time MP Galla Jayadev has pulled out of any further contests, citing business commitments and “troubles” created by the Andhra Pradesh government and the Centre.

Asked why he decided to contest, Dr Pemmasani said it was about giving back to society.

“I don’t need to come because I have probably all the comforts that anybody could ask for in this world. The reason I came is mainly because of I want to give it back to the society… Once you have that ideology, you can patiently listen to most human problems and solve most of them… As an entrepreneur, you know how to prioritise,” he said.

A graduate from Osmania Medical College, Dr Pemmasani worked in Johns Hopkins University – Sinai Hospital in the US for five years. Back in India, he turned an educationist and entrepreneur before deciding to plunge into politics.  

His campaign, he insists, is not negative. “The state is in a lot of debt. We don’t have capital we don’t have. We don’t have a single industry. So we need the support of the central government,” he said.

His party aims to restore permissions to the 130 institutes that Mr Naidu had allowed when he was the Chief Minister. “Jagan Mohan Reddy completely cancelled all 130,” he said, which is why now these institutes have to take individual permissions when they come in.

“It is a two- to three-year process even to request… For somebody to come and create a project report, building some infrastructure. Creating a job will take two to three years. I’m telling everybody we can’t give you a job on Day One. This is the problem when you elect a government that doesn’t have this pro-development nature. You don’t lose five years. You typically lose 7 to 8 years minimum,” he added.

New Delhi:
Election on 93 constituencies across 10 states and 2 Union Territories will be held today as the third of the mammoth seven-phase election rolled around. Election on the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency in Jammu and Kashmir has been postponed to May 25.

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