Uttarakhand polls: Arvind Kejriwal promises Rs 1,000 per month to every woman in state

Ahead of Uttarakhand polls, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, December 14, addressed an election rally in Uttarakhand's Kashipur. As in other state campaigns, he promised the people of Uttarakhand to provide free electricity supply and waive off all pending domestic power bills if AAP comes to power. In his address, he put forth three guaranteed works that AAP will fulfill if the people decide to vote them to power.  

Arvind Kejriwal in Uttarakhand

Referring to his governance in Delhi where his government happens to provide 200 units of free electricity to every family, he said that the same model will be implemented in Uttarakhand if his party comes to power.

The second assurance by the party was being vocal about the youth's employment opportunities. He said that in Delhi, he provided 10 lakh jobs to people in need and the same will be offered in Uttarakhand too. He also promised a Rs 5,000 unemployment allowance. 

The AAP chief said that a free pilgrimage scheme like in Delhi will be introduced if voted to power. In his address earlier at Haridwar, Kejriwal had mentioned that under the scheme, Hindus will be taken to Ayodhya, Muslims will be taken to Ajmer Sharif, and Sikhs to Kartarpur Sahib. 

Kejriwal further declared that Rs 1,000 would be given to women aged 18 and above, per month, if his party comes to power in the state. According to the AAP chief, Uttarakhand's budget is Rs 55,000 crore of which 20% goes for corruption. This means 11,000 crores is utilised by the politicos in power for their corruption acts. While only 3.5 thousand crores are needed to provide Rs 1,000 to women in the state, the Delhi CM said. 

CM Kejriwal further urged the people who have given chances to both BJP and Congress, to vote his party to power.

Uttarakhand polls

In the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly election, BJP won 57 seats in the 70-member House and replaced the Harish Rawat-led Congress government. Following this, Trivendra Singh Rawat became the Chief Minister of the state until March 9, He later resigned because of a "collection decision" taken by the BJP top brass. His successor and Lok Sabha MP Tirath Singh Rawat's tenure as the CM was also short-lived. Pushkar Singh Dhami later took on the CM position as the Election Commission was unlikely to conduct a by-election owing to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Image: PTI