Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal promised to create 10 lakh government jobs in Gujarat and a Rs 3,000 monthly unemployment allowance to young people if his government gets voted to power in the state. If AAP forms a government in Gujarat, his party will ensure that each and every unemployed youth gets a job in the next five years, he said.
Assembly elections are due by the end of this year in Gujarat, where Kejriwal’s party is trying to gain a foothold after its huge victory in Punjab.
“Until we provide them jobs, every jobless youth will get Rs 3,000 per month unemployment allowance,” Kejriwal announced, addressing a public rally at Veraval town of Gir Somnath district in the Saurashtra region.
Kejriwal’s jobs promise is a new addition to the offer of free water and electricity and the Delhi mode of education and health that got huge support in Punjab.
Responding to the BJP’s “rewari” coinage for the free electricity and water provided in AAP-ruled states, Kejriwal said the BJP’s rewari is “offered only to their friends and ends up in Swiss banks”.
Kejriwal said it is only the people who deserve “free rewari”. “It is public money, whatever you get free should be for citizens and not for contractors or ministers,” he added.
The criticism that providing free education and healthcare causes loss to the government exchequer, is wrong, Kejriwal said. A government does not incur debt because of freebies but because of corruption, he said.
“Today, Gujarat has a debt of Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Was I behind this? Has Kejriwal done this? Have they given you any free rewari? Do you get anything for free in Gujarat? They do not, then why this debt? This is because of corruption,” he said.
“Those who speak against free rewari have bad intentions. I am saying, discuss in the country, conduct a referendum whether people should get electricity, water, education — free or not,” added the Delhi Chief Minister.
Kejriwal also spoke of the “World Cities’ Summit” in Singapore, which he could not visit after a negative response from Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor.
“I was invited by the Singapore government to come and tell the world what a great job we are doing. But they would not let me go. They said we could invite any of our Chief Ministers. But there was none who did the work,” he said.
With inputs from NDTV
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