BJP Releases List For Delhi Polls, Pits EX-LS MP Parvesh Verma Against Kejriwal & Gives Tickets To Turncoats

New Delhi: The BJP has pitted former Lok Sabha MP Parvesh Verma, who has been accused by the AAP of distributing money to voters, against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in the upcoming Delhi polls. The saffron party released its first list of 29 candidates on Saturday. BJP veteran Ramesh Bidhuri will contest against Delhi Chief Minister Atishi in Kalkaji. Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers Raaj Kumar Anand and Kailash Gahlot, who joined the BJP last year, have also been given tickets.

Meanwhile, Congress has fielded Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, for the New Delhi seat. Dikshit will have to contest against Verma and Kejriwal, who has been the MLA from the New Delhi seat since 2013.

Verma is the son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma. The AAP had accused Verma of distributing Rs 1,100 to women in New Delhi. The AAP has also lodged a complaint with the ED against Verma. But, the BJP leader has dismissed such claims.

Tickets to turncoats

The BJP has given a ticket to former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely. Lovely was a minister in Sheila Dikshit’s Congress government from 2003 to 2013. He had joined the BJP last year. Former Delhi minister and Congress turncoat, Rajkumar Chauhan, has also got a ticket from Mangolpuri. Another former Congress MLA, Tarwinder Singh Marwah, will contest from Jangpura and face AAP’s Manish Sisodia.

Former AAP minister Kailash Gahlot has been fielded from Bijwasan. Gahlot had once said he was Arvind Kejriwal’s Hanuman But, he joined the BJP in November last year, blaming the AAP of drifting away from its core values. MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar, who switched from the AAP to the BJP, has been fielded from Chhatarpur.

The AAP has already announced its candidates for all the 70 seats in Delhi. The Congress has named candidates for 47 seats so far.

Kejriwal’s big promise: ‘Will waive off water bills’

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal promised to the people of Delhi that his party would waive inflated water bills if his party was voted to power in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls. likely to be held next month. “When I went to jail, I don’t know what these people did and people started getting inflated water bills…So, if anyone feels that their water bill is incorrect or inflated, don’t clear the same, wait for the elections, when AAP will come back to power and we will waive off your incorrect bill,” the AAP chief said at a press conference.