Dismissing the BJP's claim that the Congress had won the Delhi assembly polls by "hoodwinking" the voters, chief minister Sheila Dikshit attributed it to her progress.
NEW DELHI: Dismissing the BJP's claim that the Congress had won the Delhi assembly polls by "hoodwinking" the voters, chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday, attributed the victory to the unprecedented progress carried out by her government in the last ten years.
In reply to the Motion of Thanks to Monday's address of lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna, she said, "The progress Delhi has made in the last ten years is unprecedented considering that there have been constant speed breakers in our efforts including a proactive court."
Taking a dig at the BJP led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V K Malhotra, she said, "you cannot hoodwink the people. If what the BJP members said is true then why could their party not do it in the election campaign."
Buoyed by success of her party three-times in a row, Dikshit describing as "baseless", the opposition charges on issues like Blueline menace, power, Afzal Guru and full statehood to Delhi.
"These are the same charges that the opposition levelled at us during campaigning for the recent polls, but they were defeated."
On the BJP's allegations that the government was pushing through with the BRT despite opposition from many quarters, she explained, "Of the nearly 400 km road length of Delhi, only five km comprises the BRT. And we have been constantly saying that we will go ahead with the rest of the five corridors only after comprehensive testing."
On the claim by Malhotra that the system was not in force in any big metropolis, she said, "BRT is being implemented in every big city of the world. Only the form is different for each city depending on their respective requirements."
On full statehood for Delhi, on which the BJP offered full support, Dikshit said, "We have said again and again that we have not asked for full statehood but for Delhi being given status of Special State.
This is because, we, as well as the Opposition, are fully aware that Delhi being a capital city cannot get full statehood as it is home to many embassies and diplomats whom the state government alone cannot protect."
However, she clarified that the government has been asking the Centre to hand over land and traffic police.
On charges by the BJP that the Government was sitting on the files pertaining to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the chief minister said, "Afzal Guru is imprisoned and has not been set free".
"The decision that has to be taken is whether to give him life imprisonment or hanging. There is no third option of freeing him. The day the president decides whether Afzal is to get life imprisonment or hanging, we will implement it."
On Malhotra's claim that Delhi government had no role to play in the 2010 Commonwealth games as most of the projects were being executed by DDA and CPWD, she said, "I would only like to say that the games have been awarded to Delhi city."
Dismissing reports that there were plans of power tariff hike in Delhi, Dikshit pointed out that regulatory authorities in the state would take into account several factors before deciding on any increase.
Earlier while praising Dikshit for her victory for the third time in assembly polls, Malhotra had questioned the popularity
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