Congress, BJP have cut our power bill relief to Delhi: Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party Saturday alleged the Congress and the BJP were hand in glove in denying Delhi residents the 50-percent subsidy in power tariff that was extended when the Arvind Kejriwal government was in office in the capital.

"AAP is shocked over the central government's decision to ignore the proposal of the Kejriwal government to continue the relief for next six months till September," said a statement released by the top party leader himself at a press conference here.

The party said as per the interim budget passed by parliament Friday, the relief of 50 per cent in electricity bills for those consuming up to 400 units each month, provided by its AAP government from January, will be discontinued from April 1.

"When preparations for the interim budget had started, the AAP government had clearly made a provision for this relief to continue and the power department was ready with a proposal," the party said.

"The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's decision to reverse this pro-people's measure is a betrayal of the people of Delhi," it said, adding: "The BJP is an equal partner in this anti-people decision."

The party said despite the BJP promising a 30-percent cut in electricity bills in its manifesto for Delhi assembly elections, it did not protest the Central government's decision when the interim budget was placed in both houses of parliament.

According to AAP, more than 90 percent of the legislators in the Delhi assembly, except for the eight from Congress party had agreed that electricity bills should be reduced by at least 30 percent.

"Then how could the central government ignore such an overwhelming majority," it asked.

"The people of Delhi are watching this match-fixing between the Congress party and BJP to increase the woes of the common man. The BJP's mysterious silence on president's rule is a clear signal it wants to deny the people their right of having a democratically elected government."