New Delhi: Addressing his first rally in Delhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday appreciated chief minister Sheila Dikshit for her work in Delhi.
"Congress and Sheila ji have worked together and brought about improvements in the capital. Delhi Metro is the biggest example of one such development", the Gandhi scion stated.
No one can ever say that 'there's been no development in Delhi', not even the Opposition.
"We want to empower the poor. NDA government was there, and they talk of infrastructure. I took out the statistics. We made three times more roads than the NDA," claims Gandhi.
"Go to any hospital and the govt guarantees free treatment. Why? Because if you look at the reasons behind poverty, the biggest reason is health. A worker spends all his savings on health," he points out.
Becaus every Indian should have the right to ask any question to the government, so we brought RTI, he says.
Who is a Congressi? Whenever we meet a victim of any kind, a Congressman says I will fight for him or her? When a Congressman fights, he doesn't fight with anger, he fights with love and heart. And the most impt thing: we move forward with migrants in Delhi. We helped the poor in 1,500 unauthorised colonies."
Appealing to migrant workers, Rahul said that the Congress party believed in inclusive growth. "The last man standing here should feel I am running this country. Congress wants to empower you", the Congress vice-president stated.
Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hard sold the Delhi development model and the food security scheme as he spoke at his first election rally in the city, seeking people's support for Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to be voted into office for a fourth term.
The Congress Vice-President, who had launched virulent attacks on RSS and BJP at recent rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, accusing them of spreading hatred, today made no mention of the main opposition as he focused on issues of development and the question of changing the political discourse.
Neither did he make any reference to recent comments by himself that some of the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots had been approached by Pakistani intelligence agencies which wanted to lure them into terrorism.
Reaching out to migrants, who constitute approximately a third of the population of Delhi, Rahul said the Congress government had been keenly hand-holding those who moved to the city from outside.
Also, with regularisation of unauthorised colonies being a major poll plank for Congress in the national capital, Rahul referred to the authorisation of 45 colonies.
Lauding Dikshit for bringing about a turnaround in Delhi, he said that the Delhi Metro rail model was being adopted not only in different Indian states but also outside the country by Indonesia.
"Sheila Dikshit has changed Delhi. A shining metro rail today plies in Delhi. People from other states are inviting DMRC to start metro rail there. Indonesia has also invited Delhi Metro for a similar project in its capital, Jakarta.
"Earlier, there used to be a small airport. UPA government built a shining world class airport. Delhi government brought about revolutionary change in the transport system. Five new universities were set up and 50,000 seats were created (in them). Delhi was made an education hub," he said.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary in-charge for Delhi, Shakeel Ahmed, attacked BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for extending state guest-like welcome to MNS chief Raj Thackeray who, "had made an attempt to chase away from Maharashtra people coming from the Hindi belt".
He also noted that BJP was in an alliance with Shiv Sena, which has a history of attacking settlers from other states in Maharashtra, more particularly those belonging to the Hindi heartland states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Ahead of the rally, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday said the party is working hard to make the rally a “huge, huge success”.
"This is the first rally by Rahulji here in connection with the December 4 assembly elections. We are expecting a very, very huge crowd," Dikshit said, adding, "We have made all arrangements for the rally. We are confident that it will be a very successful rally.”
Other senior Delhi Congress leaders, including Dikshit, are also attending the event."
Meanwhile launching an attack on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Modi during his rally in Patna stated, "if you feel bad on being called Shahzaada then the nation also feels bad on this dynasty politics."
