Kejriwal's free power announcement an election 'gimmick': Cong

The Congress Thursday termed an election "gimmick" Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's announcement that up to 200 units of electricity will be free for people of Delhi.

The party demanded the Kejriwal government rollback the hike effected in 2017 in fixed charges, and provide free electricity to compensate for them.

Making the announcement at a press conference here, Kejriwal said the Delhi government will give full subsidy to those consuming up to 200 units of electricity and an almost 50 per cent to those using between 201 to 400 units.

Delhi Congress working president Haroon Yusuf said the announcement was Kejriwal's "gimmick" in view of the Assembly polls in Delhi scheduled early next year.

He also alleged that Kejriwal's claim that power tariff in Delhi were cheapest in the country was a "lie".

"It's a lie that Delhi has the cheapest rates of electricity. Even when the Congress was in power in Delhi, power tariff in Delhi was the lowest in the country," Yusuf told reporters.

The Congress leaders including late Sheila Dikshit met Arvind Kejriwal in June, demanding him to rollback the hike in fixed charges.

"In the last 16 months, Rs 7,400 crore have been realised from people thanks to hike in fixed charges," he claimed.

Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission slashed fixed charges up to 84 percent in its tariff order announced on Wednesday. However, Yusuf demanded that the fixed charges be brought back at the levels from which they were "steeply" hiked in 2017.

"One can learn how to make big announcement concerning a small thing from Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi people were being looted for past 16 months in the name of fixed charges," he claimed.

The AAP government should provide free power to the people of Delhi for at least one year for "fleecing" them in the name of fixed charges and pension trust fund in the past 16 months, said a joint statement from Delhi Congress spokespersons Ramakant Goswami, Jitender Kumar Kochar and Harnam Singh.