“BJP’s Delhi Govt handing out ‘prasads’ of misery to every section of society”: AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj

New Delhi: Senior AAP leader and Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj has come down heavily on the BJP, accusing it of betraying its promises and delivering ‘prasads’ of suffering to the people of Delhi–10.5% Power Purchase Adjustment Charges (PPAC) hike, not fulfilling the promise of removing pension charges, and 14-hour blackouts in peak summer.

He alleged that in just four months of forming its government in Delhi, the BJP has unleashed a barrage of miseries on every section of society, pointing out “fee hikes for the middle class, bulldozers over jhuggis, and now soaring electricity bills.”

During a press conference, pointing to BJP’s “relentless assault” on every section of society since coming to power in Delhi, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj stated, “The BJP seems to have taken a vow that no section will be spared–they are determined to hand over the ‘prasads’ of their governance to every citizen. The moment they came to power, they increased fees in private schools and gave a ‘prasad’ to the middle class. Then came demolition drives targeting people living in jhuggis, another ‘prasad’ for the downtrodden. And now, with the onset of peak summer in May and June, they’ve delivered yet another gift–by hiking the PPAC for the entire city.”

Showing a video of a BJP event from July 2024, he stated that at that time, the BJP was furious that the PPAC had been increased by 8%.
“When this hike happened in 2024, BJP leaders had publicly called Arvind Kejriwal a thief. They said the increase was proof of collusion between the Delhi government and power companies, and even called it corruption,” he said.

Challenging the BJP to stand by their past claims, the senior AAP leader said, “Today, with the BJP in power, the PPAC hasn’t increased by 8-8.5%, it has increased by 10.5%. So I want to ask Virendra Sachdeva: if an 8% hike made the then Delhi government a thief, then what would you call your own 10% hike? Will you now call your government thieves, robbers, or ‘mahachors’?”

Demanding action from the BJP on its earlier commitments, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “According to BJP’s Virendra Sachdeva, the responsibility to pay pensions to retired employees of power companies doesn’t lie with the companies, nor with the government. He had declared that pension charges in electricity bills were unjustified and should be removed. Now that the BJP is running the government, why are these charges still there? It’s been four months. When will they be removed?”

“The BJP had said that consumers should not be made to pay pension for electricity company employees. If that’s what they believed, then why hasn’t their government removed the 8% pension charge yet?” he added.

The AAP Delhi President said that electricity bills have increased under the BJP, and Delhi is now facing long and unbearable power cuts.
“In this scorching heat, people are spending entire nights without electricity. This has never happened before. Today’s newspaper reported that in Chhatarpur, power went out at 8 PM and returned at 10 AM the next day–a 14-hour blackout. Angry residents blocked roads and raised slogans against the government,” he said.

“This situation is not limited to one area. People in upscale localities like Greater Kailash are also suffering. Residents told me they never needed inverters in the past ten years, but now, every household is installing one. They say–even if we can’t run the AC, at least we should be able to run a fan. That’s how bad things have become,” he added.

Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP government had raised PPAC and made electricity unaffordable.

“They’ve allowed long power cuts to become routine, forcing people to spend sleepless nights. And third, the pension charges in electricity bills–charges they themselves called unjust–are still being collected. When is the BJP going to remove them? The people of Delhi are watching, and they are waiting for answers,” he said.