Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from East Delhi constituency, Kuldeep Kumar, exhibited confidence at sweeping all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, alluding that the voters were now out to take revenge against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.
“I see a very big margin [of victory] in East Delhi because the voters here will not be disillusioned by the BJP again, as they have made the mistake twice already and it won’t happen for a third time. They know that they do not want to suffer for another five years,” Kumar told Patriot.
The East Delhi MP candidate is presently the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Kondli constituency. Earlier, he was elected as a councillor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the youngest at the age of 27.
Although the triumphant history of Kumar feels too good to be true, his life has not always been a bed of roses.
Born into a Dalit family, his father was a sanitation worker with the MCD, who continued in the profession even after Kumar became an MLA. The blue-eyed boy of AAP, who endured a financially unstable childhood, had also been a vocal part of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement against the incumbent Congress-led centre in 2011.
However, the tides have turned now, as the parliamentary candidate expects INDIA Alliance allies, Congress and AAP, to emerge victorious across all the seven seats of the national capital.
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“We will easily form the government, and through this government we will provide employment to the people of India, the youth of India. The people want to get rid of them and the INDIA Alliance will uproot the NDA government,” he said.
Kumar added that it is through his experience in MCD, and in the legislative assembly that he is the best equipped in solving problems of East Delhi.
“I would like to remind them that I have been an MCD councillor, so I know how to clean drains and clear garbage, develop parks, spray pesticide. Also having been an MLA, I know how to fix gates in alleys, clean these alleys, as well as get water connections. So, if I become the MP from East Delhi, then the people will get one person who can do everything. Teeno cheezo ke samasyaon ka ek samadhan hoga unka beta, aur unka bhai, Kuldeep Kumar Monu (All three issues will have a single solution, their son and brother, Kuldeep Kumar Monu).
“I am going forward with multiple problems like building better schools, mohalla clinics, colleges and hospitals in East Delhi. With this vision, we want to turn it into a grand city, overturning the misgovernance of the past 10 years,” he said.
Elaborating further, he illustrated that the alliance will be fighting on issues like employment, women’s safety, Minimum Support Price to farmers, and making the country the best in education and health.
Asked about the excise policy scam being a hanging sword over their heads, he stated, “I can’t help but laugh whenever anyone asks me about the liquor policy scam, a conspiracy to destroy the reputation of a political party. Even the Supreme Court (SC) has said that the ED (Enforcement Directorate) cannot keep (Arvind Kejriwal) inside the jail indefinitely without trial and evidence,” he said.
“The BJP government has already committed the biggest scam through electoral bonds, where Sarath Chandra Reddy, who was associated with the excise policy, paid them off with Rs 60 crore in bonds,” he said.
Reddy had turned approver in the legal proceedings of the scam.
Presently, the sitting AAP MLA is facing BJP’s Harsh Malhotra in a two-way contest at the border district, as the former readies himself to fight in the name of the jailed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.