Jailed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita read out six guarantees from her husband at the INDIA rally here on Sunday.
In the letter she read out, Kejriwal apologised for not being able to consult the allies on the guarantees as he was behind bars. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge warned against infighting within the alliance, hinting at the AAP, in his speech at the rally.
Sunita quoted Kejriwal as saying: “Today, on behalf of the entire INDIA alliance, I hereby give these six guarantees to the 140 crore people of India.”
These, she said, are: 24x7 power supply, free electricity for the poor, good government schools and clinics in every settlement, multispeciality government hospitals in every district, MSP for all crops according to the Swaminathan Committee recommendations, and full statehood for Delhi — a demand the Congress has also made in the past.
Sunita, a former revenue officer like her husband, had campaigned in the 2022 Punjab polls. She debuted on a national political stage on Sunday.
“Today, I seek apology from all INDIA alliance partners because I did not seek their permission for making these announcements,” Sunita read out.
“It was impossible to seek their agreement or permission since I’m in jail. I hope that nobody will have any objections to these announcements.”
Seats in the middle of the stage were left vacant for Kejriwal and the jailed Hemant Soren, who resigned as Jharkhand chief minister moments before his arrest.
Before the rally began, a large poster of Kejriwal was removed from the front of the stage.
The AAP has been worried over the Congress’s failure to announce its candidates early.
The two parties are fighting each other in Assam and Punjab — which Kejriwal has said is “strategic”, as they are the two largest parties in the north-western state right now.
Turning towards the AAP’s Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, Kharge said during his speech: “I expect the Punjab CM (to understand) that when we fight unitedly, we will achieve something; otherwise we will continue to crush each other.”
Speaking before Kharge, Mann had said: “Everyone is united in the INDIA alliance; in my opinion, many cameras might have trembled seeing how we all came together. They don’t want us to come together; some spread this rumour, some spread
that rumour.”