Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he was open to criticism, even from the Bharatiya Janata Party, when it came to the work of the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state.
In a tweet, Kejriwal, referring to a “chargesheet” released by the BJP against his government, said the state would implement any good suggestions.
“Our culture teaches us to keep our critics close,” the tweet in Hindi read. “We will go through their ‘aarop patra’. We will implement the good suggestions in the next five years. We want everyone to strictly review our work and point out our shortcomings and give suggestions so that we can do more good work.”
Earlier in the day, Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari, Union minister Harsh Vardhan and other Delhi leaders of the party released a “chargesheet” against the Kejriwal government, at an event at Connaught Place, the Hindustan Times reported.
“The government of the Aam Aadmi Party has become a government of lies and betrayal,” Tiwari claimed. “This chargesheet is very important and it has taken a long time to prepare it. People and everyone living in Delhi will understand this.”
The Assembly elections in Delhi are likely to be held early next year. In the 2015 elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had won 67 out of 70 seats, while the BJP won just three and the Congress none.
Kejriwal has announced a series of incentives over the past few months. On Tuesday, Kejriwal released a “report card” of the five years of the government. In the report card, Kejriwal listed quality education, free health facility and subsidised electricity as his government’s main achievements.
In the report card, Kejriwal claimed that his government has increased the education budget by three times, constructed a total of 20,000 classrooms in government schools, and developed a vaccine for dengue, among other things. Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said that over the next two weeks, the government will take its report card to 35 lakh households.
However, the Delhi BJP had retorted to the government’s claims, saying that there was a shortage of Intensive Care Unit beds, ventilators, monitors, infusion pumps and gas pipelines in Delhi government hospitals. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari also wondered why the 500 new schools and 20 new colleges Kejriwal had promised had not been built.
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