AAP bid to make electricity major poll issue in Haryana

The AAP on Sunday launched the ‘Bijli Andolan’ in Haryana – on the lines of its electoral strategy in Delhi and Punjab – indicating that it was trying to pitch electricity as a major poll issue for next year’s assembly elections. National convener Arvind Kejriwal announced that the state will get 24-hour and free electricity supply if the AAP was voted to power.

Launching the campaign from Panchkula, Kejriwal said the AAP had contested the first Delhi assembly election on the issue of electricity, while the 2022 Punjab polls were also fought on the same issue.

“Power crisis in Haryana will be the main election issue in the 2024 state assembly elections,” Kejriwal said.

The Delhi chief minister, who traces his roots to Haryana, tried to draw an emotional connect to voters claiming that it pained him when a large number of people from the state came to him complaining about long and unscheduled power cuts and expensive power supply under the ML Khattar-led BJP government.

“The only remedy from long power cuts and costly power supply is to vote for the AAP, which is committed to free and 24×7 power supply in Haryana,” he said.

The CM drew parallels between the power scenario in Haryana vis-à-vis neighbouring Punjab and Delhi. He claimed that while the residents of the state had to pay Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,300 for 200 units of power, in Delhi, there was no charge up to 200 units and, in Punjab, it was zero charge for 300 units. In Haryana, he added, residents have to pay Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,800 for 300 units.

Kejriwal alleged that the state government had allowed a big corporate house, with whom it had entered into a 25-year power purchase agreement, to hike rates after a few years.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, who also attended the event, said nearly 90 percent of consumers did not have pay any electricity bill in his state.

“I urge the Haryana voters to replicate the Delhi and Punjab model in their state to get free and 24-hour power supply,” he said.