AAP is original, BJP duplicating policies: Kejriwal in Goa
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Sep, 2021 11:25 AM
Panaji, Sep 21 (IANS) Accusing the BJP-led coalition government of "duplicating" initiatives of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal said the people of Goa should elect the "original" AAP, instead of the BJP, which merely duplicates its policies.
"(Chief Minister Pramod) Sawant said that water will be free in Goa. I was very happy. We did it four years ago in Delhi. I have heard that they have started doorstep delivery of services. We started it in Delhi three years ago," Kejriwal told a press conference in Mapusa town in North Goa.
"I believe that whatever is happening in Delhi, he (Sawant) is copying it in Goa. When the original is available, why do you need a duplicate? When the people of Goa can vote for the original, why do you need a duplicate? The duplicate person will end up doing 'gadbad' (confusion)," Kejriwal said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Goa have been engaged in a war of words and pre-poll announcements over the last few months ahead of the state Assembly polls, which are due in the coastal state in early 2022.
After the AAP announced free power to the tune of 300 units to domestic households in the state, the BJP-led coalition government has announced 16,000 free litres of water in every household.
The AAP on Tuesday also promised 80 per cent reservations for domiciled Goans and also made promises to allot doles to the tune of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 to unemployed youth and households, whose livelihoods were linked to the flagging tourism and defunct mining industry with no assured earnings.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as times goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, he added.
The petitioner said the state had passed the Punjab Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act of 2006 but it has never implemented it in case of appointment in judicial services.
In the run up to the assembly polls scheduled early next year, the BJP Punjab unit has launched several campaigns to strengthen its organisational structure at ground level. Sharma said that work is progressing at good pace for formation of a 21-member committee at each polling booth.
