AAP flaunts its 'Goa power-faceoff', terms it ‘US presidential-style debate in India’

Flaunting its recent 'power debate' in Goa, AAP claimed on Thursday, that US presidential-style debate was a change it had brought to Indian democracy. Recently on Tuesday, Delhi's power minister Satyendra Jain faced off his Goan counterpart Nilesh Cabral for a 'power debate' on the topic of free electricity in Panjim. While AAP has promised to provide free electricity if elected to power in the state, BJP has brushed it off as impractical.

AAP flaunts its Power debate as 'change in Indian democracy'

On Tuesday, Jain argued that offering free electricity upto 300 units was feasible in Goa, following the Delhi model. In retaliation, Nilesh Cabral claimed that such freebies would put a huge burden on the state exchequer. Refusing 'free power', Cabral instead suggested that the BJP govt would continue to supply it at highly subsidised rates.

In retaliation, Jain said there were frequent power outages in Goa which had trouble the common man. "Goans too deserve free power because Goa has a much higher per capita budget than Delhi. Despite this, people here get basic amenities of poor quality," Satyendar Jain said. AAP has offered free power in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat apart from Goa in a bid to woo voters in the poll-bound states.

AAP's political campaign

AAP has made electricity its main poll pitch in all states up for polls in 2022. In Goa, the govt has imposed a  5.31 percent increase in electricity tariff to bridge the department's revenue gap, as per reports. The tariff hike which was applicable to both domestic and commercial connections, including low and high tension consumers, was suggested to cover Rs 75.6 crores of the department’s revenue gap of Rs 342 crore. Lashing out at the BJP govt, AAP has promised to provide free electricity in Goa if voted to power. It has made similar promises in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Gujarat where it eyes to make inroads.

Goa Congress defection

In 2019, 10 of 15 Congress MLAs merged with the ruling BJP, increasing the saffron party's strength to 27 in the 40-seat house. The Congress, which had emerged as the single-largest party after 2017 Assembly polls in the coastal state, was reduced to five legislators.  With a group of ten Congress MLAs in Goa led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced that two-thirds of the Congress Legislative Party — enough to avoid action under the anti-defection law — merged with the BJP. The party had cried foul that it had not been invited to form the government in Goa after the February 2017 Assembly polls despite it emerging as the single largest party.