Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri is highly confident that people in Delhi will vote out the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He says the incumbent government has failed on many fronts, be it tackling pollution, Yamuna cleaning, or corruption.

He tells Parvez Sultan about unfulfilled promises of the AAP government and the welfare schemes of the Union government Excerpts:

What will be the tone and tenor of BJP’s campaign?

This election is going to be one of a kind. What is at stake is not only the fact that it is the capital of India. But you know the 10 years of the Arvind Kejriwal government have brought untold suffering to the people. And I use the word suffering with a lot of circumspection and care.

If you have to breathe this air, which has an AQI several times over the prescribed limit, when you have to have a river 500 times or 2,000 times more polluted than the permissible level, then you are affecting the health of the citizens.

These are only the visible manifestations. What’s happening is a tremendous amount of anti-incumbency. There is also a tremendous amount of credibility in terms of crisis. And there are very serious issues relating to personal corruption. So when these three are together, this election will be very different.

Is the BJP’s primary focus on ‘Sheesh Mahal’ and the alleged liquor scam?

No, that’s not correct. The BJP is, in a very comprehensive manner, focusing on his record. What he said and didn’t do.

What are the deficiencies?

And insofar as the BJP’s response is concerned, we’ll have to await the party manifesto. It is a question of a day or so more.

You often call out former CM’s ‘Jhoot Ki Factory’ (Factory of Lies).

He is a ‘Jhoot Ki Factory’. I am not calling him. It is a popularly accepted thing. Kejriwal said in 2015 and 2020 that he would not seek votes if he could not clean Yamunaji.

He also said in 2012 that had the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) not been there, the Congress would have sold the country. Now, there are 14 CAG reports that have not been sent to the Assembly Speaker or the Lieutenant-Governor V K Saxena. I mean, this is not a ‘jhoot ki factory’. This is a very large manufacturing unit of ‘jhoot’ (lies).

Freebies promised by AAP worked in its favour. What are your views?

That’s alright. There are freebies also. What the population and the citizens of any constituency want are facilities. What they want is amenities. Now, if you can supply these amenities free of cost, well and good. If not, then you get caught.

The difference between the BJP and the AAP is that whatever we say, we deliver. If you look at the BJP manifesto of 2014, 2019 and 2024, all the things we said, all those boxes are ticked.

Maybe some political schemes are left. But we talked about homes for the poor. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has produced four crore homes. In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised three crore more homes. The issue is quite simple. The issue is that we have a credible approach to providing amenities.

Now, what comes out in the manifesto, I don’t know. But we will have to wait for the manifesto. We give 80 crore people three meals of dry ration in a day, which started during the Covid pandemic. We are continuing with that. We are giving 10 crore, 30 lakh people gas at Rs 5 a day to the Ujjwala Yojana (LPG cylinder scheme) beneficiaries. That will, I think, continue.

What is in the offing from the BJP for the people of Delhi in this election?

I don’t want to prejudge what comes out in the manifesto. But we have a rational view of these things. We teach people how to fish rather than give them the fish to eat.

Delhi ministers and AAP leaders are often at loggerheads with the L-G. They allege he is an agent of the BJP-led Centre.

I can’t comment on that. He (L-G) has a very difficult job. If you have an outfit like Mr Kejriwal in the AAP, poor L-G must be, you know, tearing his head out. There are issues in the national capital, which the L-G is trying to do its bit. These (AAP) people are not easy.

The BJP hasn’t finalised candidatures for all the 70 assembly seats yet. What are the reasons?

We are a large party, a party with a large number of aspirants. A lot of people from other parties have joined us.

Three Sikh candidates, one has come from the Akali Dal, and two have come from the Congress. A lot of people are seeking tickets. It will be sorted out in a day. We have enough time. The election is always fought in the last three weeks.