Weeks after the two parties were dealt with a crushing defeat by the BJP in the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party are now engaged in a war of words on the issue of electricity rates in the national capital.
The two sides maintained a veneer of civility, with Delhi Congress President Sheila Dikshit calling on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his official residence on Flagstaff Road to discuss various issues concerning the denizens, most importantly power charges. And Kejriwal displayed ample graciousness in the manner in which he received and met the Congress delegation led by Dikshit.
The meeting comes months before Delhi faces Assembly elections, and at a time when the Congress is intensifying its campaign against the Kejriwal government, allegedly taking to surreptitious means to increase electricity rates.
No sooner had the meeting ended, the two sides, in their remarks to the media, attacked each other on the issue of electricity rates in the city.
The Congress claimed that the Kejriwal government has misled people living in rented accommodations to install separate meters for electricity, which resulted in the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission increasing fixed charges. This, the rival party claims, has benefited the power distribution companies. The claim is that the AAP government has gifted Rs 7000 crores to distribution companies through the increase in fixed charges.
“We raised the issue of power rates as well as water scarcity in Delhi with the Chief Minister. We have demanded that the increase in fixed charges be rolled back,” said Delhi Congress Working President Haroon Yusuf. He added that Kejriwal has given the assurance that the hike will be reversed.
The AAP regime hit back at the Congress, stating that the electricity rates in Delhi at present were far lower compared to the time when Dikshit was chief minister. The government released a comparative chart to back the claim.
“During Sheila ji's time, in 2010, 50 units of one KW power cost Rs 153. It increased to Rs 264 in 2013. Now, the bill, which was Rs 264 during Sheila ji's tenure, costs only Rs 128,” said Power Minister Satyendra Jain.
He also claimed that the electricity rates in Delhi were far cheaper than in Congress-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, even as the national capital buys power from these states.
Talking about the meeting between Kejriwal and Dikshit, AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said the Congress delegation could not spell out they came to the conclusion that electricity rates in Delhi had increased. “When the chief minister asked Sheila ji what calculations her party had done to arrive at such statistics, she looked towards Haroon Yusuf, who in turn looked towards Devendra Yadav and Rajesh Lilothia. They were not clear about the calculations or the facts,” he said.
Bharadwaj tried making a political point, saying Kejriwal had led an agitation against increase in electricity rates whilst Sheila Dikshit was CM. He added that the chief minister had refused to meet Kejriwal back then. Kejriwal had support in form of ten lakh letters written by Delhiites complaining of high electricity charges. “When Kejriwal ji went to meet Sheila ji, her assistant said the chief minister is sleeping. And she did not meet him,” he said.
“I am happy that Sheila Dikshit ji made the effort of meeting the present chief minister, and that he immediately gave her time,” he added.