Aam Aadmi Party candidate from South Delhi parliamentary constituency Raghav Chadha has said that people are educated and they will vote based on work, and not in the name of Lord Ram in the Lok Sabha polls. In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express, Chadha exuded confidence that AAP under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will perform well in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls. He said that he has the blessings from people across different socio-economic backgrounds of his constituency and will surely win. Chadha added that those who are indulging in caste politics will regret once results are declared. The South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency has a sizeable population of Jats and Gujars. Chadha is contesting elections against BJP’s incumbent MP Ramesh Bidhuri who is a Gujar and Congress’ Vijender Singh who comes from jat community. When Chadha was asked about the population dynamics, Chadha replied that in the last four years, Kejriwal has tried to solve the problems of public.
“I personally feel log kaam ke naam par vote denge, Ram ke naam par nahi (People won’t vote based on one’s religion or one’s caste, but based on work). They will vote based on how educated, polite, sincere and committed a person is, and whether that person will be able to understand and proactively respond to their problems,” he told the daily.
Chadha also accused both the BJP and Congress of ignoring the constituency when in power. He said that BJP and Congress couldn’t provide even basic amenities like drinking water, sewage system, roads to the people of South Delhi. He said all these facilities have been provided to the residents in the last four years by the Kejriwal government. He said that 90% population in South Delhi has today access to piped water and the remaining 10% population will get it in the next 8-9 months.
Chadha said that the BJP has been trying to stall the development work in Delhi and is also against connecting the area with other parts of Delhi via Metro.
“Apart from basic amenities, law and order, transport, traffic and regularisation of unauthorised colonies are other important issues. My priority is going to be regularising unauthorised colonies, bringing the Metro to this area, which BJP has been trying to stall, and solving the traffic problem,” he said.
On AAP’s demand of statehood for Delhi, Chadha said that his campaign is focused on the matter of granting full statehood to Delhi, adding that 1.36 voters also support party’s demand.
“Law and order is something which needs to be looked after in my constituency. Since this falls under the ambit of an MP, I am going to concentrate heavily on that. Once we are granted statehood, we can focus on all these issues,” he said.
Delhi has seven parliamentary seats. Polling in the national capital will be held in the sixth phase on May 12. In 2014, the BJP had bagged all the seven seats.