Kejriwal is good salesman selling dreams: Goa BJP on AAP's populist promises
Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 Sep, 2021 10:34 AM
Panaji, Sep 22 (IANS) Dubbing the populist poll promises made in Goa by AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as the pitch of a 'good salesman selling dreams', the state BJP on Wednesday accused the party of trying to cheat Goans with promises of unemployment doles, job guarantees and free electricity.
"They are good salesmen. They sell dreams. Politicians should not sell dreams, instead they should make dreams come true," Goa Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Damu Naik told a press conference on Wednesday.
"The promises made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) appear to come with an asterisk symbol on a commercial offer or a warning sign on a cigarette packet, which has the actual details in small print, that everyone tends to miss," Naik also said.
The charge made by the BJP functionary comes a day after Kejriwal during his visit to poll-bound Goa on Tuesday, announced 80 per cent reservation in private sector jobs, Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 doles for the unemployed youth and families who have lost employment due to Covid respectively as well as setting up of a Skill university in the state.
Goa is headed for the Assembly polls in early 2022.
Previously, the AAP had also promised 300 units of electricity free of cost for domestic consumers, while also assuring 24x7 power in the state.
Following the announcement, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in response had announced free water to the tune of 16,000 litres to every domestic household in the state.
At the press conference, Naik also said that the government largesse was being promised by the AAP because the Kejriwal-led party knows that it cannot come to power in Goa.
"They are trying to fool people. They have promised 80 per cent reservation in jobs, but there is already reservation of jobs (for locals) in the private sector. The AAP should not cheat people and people should not get cheated. AAP has no standing in Goa. In some cases, they will try to get the negative votes," Naik said.
The ruling party functionary also said that the AAP's governance model in Delhi, a union territory, could not be replicated in Goa, which is a full-fledged state.
"The Delhi model is different and the Goa model is different.A Goa Budget is Rs 20,000 crore and Delhi Budget is Rs 70,000 crore. A swayampurna (self reliant) state is being challenged by the AAP by a union territory. People of Goa are not fools. This is entertainment," Naik said.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Channi took oath of office along with his two deputies -- one a Jat Sikh and another belonging to the Hindu community -- at a simple ceremony here in the Punjab capital that was delayed for 20 minutes owing to the late arrival of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as times goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, he added.
