Congress counters BJP over Delhi governance record

The Congress Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, rubbishing charges of lack of accountability and spiralling prices of essential services during its term of office in Delhi.

The BJP had earlier raised issues of the price of water and electricity, and the poor record of the Delhi government in protecting women in the national capital.

With assembly elections drawing close, the ruling party mocked the BJP's state unit president Vijay Goel's demand that an accountability commission be formed to probe irregularities in Delhi's administration.

"If they are so serious about the accountability commission, why don't they set it up in the municipal corporations of Delhi that they rule? They can get the motion passed in the house," Delhi cabinet minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told a press conference.

Lovely was accompanied by cabinet colleagues Haroon Yusuf and Rajkumar Chauhan.

On the issue of the price of electricity, Power Minister Yusuf rebutted the allegations of the main opposition party.

"They say that power rates have increased by 300 percent during Congress rule. That is a baseless allegation. The cost of procuring electricity has increased from Rs.1.50 per unit in 2002 to Rs.6.80 in 2012/13," Yusuf said.

He also asked Goel to refer to the increase in usage of power, and the record of ensuring adequate supply during peak demand, which his government, 15 years ago, could never manage.

Rajkumar Chauhan said the BJP's charge that a majority of Delhi does not get clean water is not true.

"According to the 2011 census, 95 percent of the people in Delhi get clean water. Water tariffs in Delhi are less than in Mumbai," Chauhan said.

Chauhan said that it was then Home Minister L.K. Advani who, years ago, patted Goel -- who was a cabinet minister during the tenure of the government of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) -- for good water supply in the capital.

Lovely also charged BJP with distorting the facts about Delhi government's spending on the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG), in which gross financial irregularities had come to the fore.

"The BJP says that we spent Rs.70,000 crore in the CWG, but according to the Comptroller and Auditor General, a total of Rs.18,000 crore was spent, of which Delhi government spent only Rs.3,000 crore," Lovely said, adding that the BJP was misleading the public.

He said the BJP raises these issues whenever assembly polls were nearing.

--Indo-Asian New Service

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