Kejriwal asks what will common man get from 'one nation, one election'

Bhiwani/Chandigarh: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday rejected the 'One nation, One election' concept, asking what will the common man get from such an arrangement. In Bhiwani, Kejriwal also launched a counter attack on the BJP on another issue, a day after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said many parties offer freebies to the public. The AAP national convener asked if giving quality and free education to the poor, building good hospitals for the poor and giving free treatment to them was any sin or a crime. With Haryana going to polls next year, Kejriwal, who was addressing a gathering at a party event in Bhiwani, said there is an undercurrent in AAP's favour as people of the state are looking for a "badlaav" (change). "...Aur dheere dheere iska BJP ka safaya dekhna ek din Aam Aadmi Party hi karegi iss desh k andar (And one day it will be the AAP which will wipe out the BJP from this country)," Kejriwal said.

He took on the BJP on the 'one nation, one election' idea, saying rather there should be one nation-one education, where rich or poor all get good education. "What will the common man get from 'one nation, one election'?" he said. "Since yesterday, the BJP is talking about this," he said. "One nation, one election. What will we get out of it? Whether a common man will get anything from one nation, one election, one nation, 100 elections, one nation, 1,000 elections, what will we get. Will common people get anything," he asked. "One nation, one education, everybody should get the same education whether rich or poor," he said, adding that everyone should also get good health facilities and that is when the country will benefit. "We do not need one nation, one election. You keep it with you," he told the BJP.

The Centre on Saturday notified an eight-member high-level committee to examine and make recommendations at the earliest on the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats. Kejriwal, who was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and other party leaders for a party programme, while targeting the BJP government in Haryana, said corruption is rampant, they did not undertake any development. "They did not build any schools, hospitals or roads," he said. "Khattar sahab said one party comes and says it will give this and that free," he said, making a reference to the Haryana chief minister's remarks.

A day earlier, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar, without naming anyone, had said many parties offer freebies while the BJP government prioritizes skill development and training for individuals, along with providing necessary capital and grants when needed. "I want to ask you (the gathering) if we give good and free education to the poor children of this country, do we commit any sin. Giving good education to the children free, can there be anything better nation building work than this," asked Kejriwal. "If we build good hospitals for the poor of this country, build good Mohalla clinics and give them better treatment and make arrangements of free medicines, do we commit any sin.

And then they say we are giving freebies," he said. We don't indulge in corruption like them and commit sin, he said. Referring to Khattar's remarks on freebies, Kejriwal said, "Are you not getting free electricity? If electricity for Khattar sahib is free then should not it be free for the people of Haryana." He further said the electricity of Haryana ministers was also free and people are paying their cost of electricity. The cost of electricity is very high in Haryana, the AAP supremo said. Kejriwal said if the AAP forms government in Haryana, "we will provide 24-hour free power supply in Haryana" like in Delhi and Punjab. Kejriwal was in Bhiwani for the oath-taking event of nearly 4,000 office bearers of the party which included state, district and party's circle level office bearers. People are connecting with the AAP with each passing day, said Kejriwal, while adding they are fed up with other parties and the incumbent regime and they want "badlaav".

On his party's expanding base in Haryana, he said by October 31, on every booth, booth committees will be set up. There are nearly 20,000 booths in Haryana and two lakh AAP office bearers, with 10 people for every committee, will be in place. Ninety per cent workers are those who are common people of Haryana including farmers and traders, he said referring to the AAP. Taking on other parties, he said, had these people done their job properly, "why would we have entered politics". "Name any single party in the country which says we will establish schools for your children and give us vote. There is no (such) party in the entire country..," he said, while adding only the AAP says this. "Only the AAP can take the country forward. Only the AAP is the future of India and it can take the country on the path of development," he said.

Kejriwal said Union Minister Amit Shah used to once say that the AAP will be finished in a short time, "but we came to power in Punjab". "Now we will come (to power) in Haryana and one day it will be the AAP which will wipe out the BJP from this country," he said. Lambasting the Khattar government for "doing nothing" for the state, Kejriwal said, "Can today Khattar sahib say if I (Khattar) have not done any work then do not vote for me. He cannot say this because he did not do any work." He also hit out at the Centre, accusing it of indulging in corruption and "working only for one person". "They need vote of 140 crore people but 'one nation, one dost'," he said. Attacking the Prime Minister, Kejriwal said, "Are you working for the country or for only one person." Apparently attacking the BJP-led Centre, Kejriwal said they tried hard to stop from carrying out works in Delhi, despite this, they did so much work and people voted them to power for third time.

"If any research is conducted over this, then perhaps I will get a Nobel prize for doing so many works despite having been stopped from doing so," he said. He also told the party workers at the gathering that they should not come to AAP with the thinking that they will get posts or positions, but serving the country should be their sole motto. "Today, Manish Sisodia is in jail, it has been six months. Satyendar Jain remained in jail in a ''farzi'' (fake) case and the BJP had sent him messages 10 times to leave Kejriwal and the AAP...but they are followers of Bhagat Singh...All who will join us should be ready to give up everything," he said. He asked party volunteers to meet each family in the state under a door-to-door campaign and tell them that Kejriwal is from Haryana and he will set the state right.