Neither Modi nor Kejriwal can match Sheila Dikshit’s achievements: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi urges Delhi residents to vote for Congress for real development, highlighting Sheila Dikshit's legacy and party's promises.

Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can do the kind of work that the Congress’s former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit has done for the city, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday, in a video message asking people to vote for the Congress to bring “real development” back to the capital.

The Congress is looking for a comeback in Delhi after winning zero seats in the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. The late Dikshit headed Congress-led governments in Delhi for three successive terms, from 1998 to 2013.

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Highlighting the problems that plague the city, Mr. Gandhi’s video touched upon inflation, unemployment, pollution, bad construction, GST, and corruption, using snippets of his interactions with Delhi residents in the run-up to the State’s upcoming Assembly election. “Delhi now wants the same real development model of Sheila Dikshit ji, not the false propaganda and PR model of BJP and Kejriwal,” Mr. Gandhi said in Hindi. He added that both Mr. Modi and Mr. Kejriwal can make long speeches, but they are the same in their failure to deliver on their promises.

The video comes a day after Mr. Gandhi failed to attend a rally in the Sadar Bazaar constituency and cancelled two other rallies scheduled this week, due to illness.

The Delhi Congress also launched its campaign song — ‘Hogi Har Zaroorat Puri-Dilli Mei Congress Hai Zaroori (Every need will be fulfilled-Congress is needed in Delhi)‘ — that explains the salient features of the party’s five guarantees: ₹2,500 per month for women through the Pyari Didi Yojna; ₹25 lakh life-long health insurance for all Delhi residents; ₹8,500 monthly skill development scholarships for educated, unemployed youth; ₹500 subsidised cooking gas cylinder, along with a ration kit; and 300 units of free electricity. The song, and accompanying video, also attack the AAP government, accusing it of ruining and destroying a beautiful Delhi over the past decade.

Addressing a press conference on the alleged liquor scam that is now being probed by Central investigation agencies, Congress leader Pawan Khera claimed that scam money was used to fund elections in Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat, while money from Punjab was now being used for the Delhi election. “The AAP’s liquor policy drove the unemployed youth into liquor addiction with the ‘one bottle free for one bottle purchased’ policy. This policy totally destroyed Delhi,” Mr. Khera said.