BJP releases ‘Vachan Patra’, promises houses for all slum dwellers

AAP says people won’t trust BJP as it did not present its report card despite 15 years of rule in the MCD

The Delhi BJP on Thursday launched a ‘Vachan Patra (promissory note)’ promising houses to city’s slum dwellers if the party returned to power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

At a press conference here, BJP’s MCD election management committee chief Ashish Sood said the houses will be constructed at the same place where the slums are located, on the lines of the 3,024 flats inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week in Delhi’s Kalkaji for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

The party has attached a registration form with the Vachan Patra. Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said the party will get the form filled by all slum dwellers to keep the record and provide them with pucca houses.

When asked how the BJP will fulfil this promise since housing does not come under the MCD’s jurisdiction, party spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “Once elected to power in the MCD, our priority will be to coordinate with the authority concerned to provide houses to slum dwellers under the ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahin Makaan’ scheme.” “We will create three more such complexes [like the one inaugurated in Kalkaji] in Delhi before the Lok Sabha polls in 2024,” he added.

Reacting to the BJP’s promise, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said despite its 15-year rule in the MCD, the party failed to present its report card before elections, fearing backlash over its “incompetence”. AAP did not release ‘Kejriwal Ki 10 Guarantee’, which was earlier announced to be launched on Thursday.

“The BJP did not present its report card while presenting its manifesto because it did not fulfil a single promise that it made to the people of Delhi in 2017. How can the people of Delhi trust the BJP after it completely failed in running the MCD,” asked AAP leader Atishi.

Instead of growth, the BJP has given three garbage mountains to the people of Delhi and it has become impossible for the people to live near the landfills, she added.