By Gaurav Kumar
New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) In an attempt to rekindle the Delhiites' old sentiments, Congress said that it will again decorate and make the national capital prosperous, as the party did, during the 15-year tenure of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

'Delhi is missing Congress rule. When we came to power in 1998, the power and water condition were very precarious. We had decorated and made Delhi a great capital in the world,' said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Subhash Chopra.
'We also started the Delhi Metro Project to create a new model for public transport, making Delhi one of the best cities in the world,' Mr Chopra said, after launching the party campaign song 'Congress Wali Dilli'.
'AAP has done nothing. There is no new hospital, college or university,' he pointed.
He claimed that Congress is the only party, which has the vision and capability to solve Delhi's water woes.

'Next war will be fought over water. By 2022, the water crisis in Delhi will be more severe than Chennai. We have a vision and capability to save Delhi from the crisis,' the former Delhi Assembly Speaker told UNI.
He added that if the party came to power, the Delhiites would not only get 20,000 liters of free water per month, but also get 30 paise cashback for each liter saved by them.
The DPCC president also claimed that free water scheme only 'benefited the water mafia'.

'Have they done any survey on the water to know how many people residing in one house, where that water is going? The water is going to tanker mafia, who is selling it in black,' Mr Chopra alleged.
Before Mr Chopra, Alka Lamba, who left AAP to re-join Congress last year, also alleged that the water mafia was quite active in Old Delhi and misused the AAP Delhi government's free water scheme by selling bottled water at higher prices.
Talking about AAP, Mr Chopra said if they were so confident about their win in this election, so why they have roped in Prashant Kishore-led political consultancy firm I-PAC?
'AAP says that he won't charge, but we know the reality. Prashant, commonly known as PK, charges a huge amount,' Mr Chopra said.

'AAP would talk about corruption-free government before coming to power. But now, they have given Rajya Sabha tickets to two of the richest people. Is there a dearth of good leaders in AAP?
'Why Prashant Bhusan, Kumar Viswas, Yogender Yadav and other intellectuals left the party? They left AAP because now, the Kejriwal-led party wants power at any cost,' he claimed.

Talking to UNI, cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who was also present during the campaign song launch, said that AAP ran false propaganda to capture the power.

'AAP government has done nothing in Delhi. They ran false propaganda to grab power. We had made 78 flyovers, 28 hospitals, and 5,871 km roads. How much developmental work AAP party has done in Delhi? They have done nothing,” Mr Azad said.

“It was the Congress party which made a total of 67 over bridges and how many Kejriwal has made, just seven. He has no vision for infrastructure. Except for a notification which was issued forfree schemes from September till March 31, what he did? it's all political gimmick,” 1983 cricket World Cup-winning team member said.
Mr Azad, who is also a Purvanchali face of Congress the party said it is the Congress party which takes stand for the migrants.

“AAP has come to power a fewyears ago and BJP came in existence in the 1980s, but migrants have been coming to Delhi before that. If you go to these colonies,these colonies are like Mahatama Gandhi Camp, Indira Camp, Lal Bahadur Shastri Camp. These leaders were from Congress. We have fought for the migrants.Whenever there were bulldozers, itwas the Congress who stood by them,” he said.

Talking about BJP, Mr Azad said, “They do talk about national issues because they do not have the answers for their promises they had made before coming to power. What happened to their promise of 15 lakh Rs in each Bank account?
Earlier, they would talk about Ram Mandir, Article 370 and 35A and Pakistan sponsored terrorism but now they have brought in National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) because they do not have the answers for unemployment, women safety and black moneyand that is the reason they do talk about national issues to cover up their failure.”
According to Mr Azad, National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorized Colonies) Bill was a “political gimmick”.


'They have not changed the land use in the bill, which seeks to give ownership rights to the residents living in 1,731 unauthorised colonies in the national capital and is for residential purposes.
'If you go to these colonies then you will find people have small businesses on the ground floor and live on the first floor. They have grocery shops, small beauty parlour and other small business establishments. Therefore, the basic purpose of the Bill is defeated.
'MCD has halted demolition and sealing drive due to the election. More than 700 unauthorised colonies may see the sealing, which will increase the unemployment,' he concluded.
In the sixth Delhi Assembly Elections, which was held in 2015, AAP had won 67 of 70 seats and BJP could win three seats. Congress drew a blank in the elections.
The national capital will go to polls on February 8 and outcome of the election will be declared on February 11.
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