New Delhi : Attacking the BJP and its leaders for their “big talk” and “tall promises”, Congress candidate for Delhi’s Greater Kailash assembly constituency Sharmistha Mukherjee Monday appealed to voters in the Bengali-predominant Chittaranjan Park colony to vote for her and give her a chance to prove herself.
Addressing a well-attended gathering in the busy Market No.1 in Chittaranjan Park, Mukherjee, the daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee, spoke in Bangla to the largely Bengali audience that gathered in the market well known for its variety of fish and Bengali sweets and snacks.
Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi asks businesspersons abroad to invest in India, “I want to ask who created the infrastructure? The BJP did not create the infrastructure”.
She said when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a few months after the BJP came to power that the granaries were full, “I want to ask who made the granaries full, certainly not the BJP”.
Mukherjee, who formally joined the Congress last year, said the BJP government at the centre was claiming credit for all the policies of the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
“The BJP and its leaders are only full of big talk and tall promises. But all that does not work. The Congress has done a lot of work for Delhi,” she said, referring to the flyovers, roads and the Delhi Metro in the 15 years of Congress rule.
She also attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying the party quit after two months in power because it was too busy doing “dharnas” (sit-ins) and has no time for work.
Mukherjee, who stays in Greater Kailash Part II and who has been involving herself in the problems of the residents of the area, appealed to voters to give her a chance.
Earlier, Congress leader Deepa Dasmunshi, who also addressed the crowd in Bengali, attacked Modi, calling him “sapno ka saudagar” (merchant of dreams) and said he only gives people “achchey din ka sapna” (dream of better times ahead).
“Modi does not have any Alladin ka chirag (Alladin’s magic lamp). All he has been doing is renaming Congress schemes and passing them off as his own. The Congress’ Direct Cash Transfer scheme has been renamed as Jan Dhan Yojana, the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan has been renamed Swachch Bharat, with a photo of Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles added to it,” she said.
Dasmunshi accused the BJP of harming the secular fabric of the capital city, and cited the Trilokpuri communal riots and the arson attacks on two churches as examples.
Local Congress leader Virender Kasana, who has been a party councillor, also addressed the gathering.
Delhi will vote Feb 7.
The candidates from Greater Kailash constituency are Saurabh Bhardwaj from the AAP, BJP’s ex-councillor Rakesh Gullaiya, and Sharmistha Mukherjee.
The Congress is banking on the around 20,000 Bengali voters in the constituency.
Mukherjee has been actively meeting members of residents’ welfare associations and other people during campaigns to learn about the problems in the constituency and also interacting with people during morning walks.
Bhardwaj won from the constituency in 2013. Before that, the seat was held by the BJP.