AAP welcomes Delhi state BJP's demand 50 per cent power subsidy benefit should be extended to all,

AAP welcomes Delhi state BJP's demand

BJP';s demand that 50 per cent power subsidy benefit should be extended to all,

The Aam Aadmi Party welcomes Delhi state BJP';s demand that 50 per cent power subsidy benefit should be extended to all, and not just to consumers with electricity consumption up to only 400 units. We are ready to accept the suggestion and extend the benefit to all the consumers if BJP leaders manage to convince the BJP led central government to bear the extra financial burden for the benefit of Delhi';s citizens, which we sincerely hope Mr. Narendra Modi';s government will happily do, because he had promised to slash the electricity tariffs by half during his election campaign.

BJP Delhi state president Shri Satish Upadhyay and it';s leader of the legislative party in Delhi Assembly Shri Vijendra Gupta have been quoted in the media demanding across the board 50 per cent subsidy for power consumers. We do agree to Mr Vijendra Gupta and Mr. Satish Upadhyay that every Delhi citizen deserves relief, but we had to use the targeted subsidy route to benefit 90 per cent consumers for financial constraints and encouraging consumers to consume electricity judiciously. We think that this subsidy slab of upto 400 units will be major incentive that would encourage people to save power and help bring down electricity demand.

The state BJP leadership seems to differ with us on the issue. BJP';s statement shows that the party thinks the relief should be extended to all without any cut-off slab. BJP also seems to believe that there is no need to encourage people in Delhi to save power and consume less electricity and  give incentive to people saving electricity. We see this confidence of the state BJP stemming from the belief that they would manage the balance subsidy burden from the BJP led central government and insuring availability of cheap power to Delhi if the demand crosses the supply quota earmarked to Delhi.

Now as the Aam Aadmi Party government has given power subsidy benefit to 90 per cent consumers of Delhi, we request the state BJP leadership to take up the  issue with the Central Government led by their own party on an urgent basis and convince it to bear the financial burden to extend the benefit to the rest of 10 per cent electricity consumers, who spend more than 400 units per month. Since Mr. Modi himself had made the promise to slash electricity tariffs by 50 per cent, we sincerely hope that he would agree to this small demand of the state BJP leaders.

Moreover, as the BJP thinks there is no need to encourage people to save electricity by giving incentive to those consuming less electricity, the state BJP should also get an assurance from its central government that it would make available cheap power to Delhi if the demand shoots up.

The Aam Aadmi Party promises that the power subsidy benefit will be extended to all immediately after the extra subsidy burden is borne by BJP';s central government.

Regards,

AAP Media cell