AAP unveils UP urban local body poll plan; Promises to waive water tax, halve house tax
Lucknow, Mar 12: The AAP on Sunday unveiled its election plank for urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh, promising to halve house taxes and waive water taxes in municipal bodies it wins.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh, the party's Uttar Pradesh in-charge, launched the party's slogan -- "House Tax Half, Water Tax Maaf" -- to woo the electorate during a visit to Lucknow.
He also declared in-charges for 633 urban local body seats in Uttar Pradesh and said the party will contest from every constituency.
During his visit, Singh called the ED (Enforcement Directorate) the "Entertainment Department" and alleged that central agencies are being misused to target the opposition.
Singh said the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has accepted the report of the commission set up to look into the issue of reservation to Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in urban local body polls and expressed hope that the government will soon announce the election dates, he said.
The party will reach out to the public and ask them to give the AAP an opportunity to clean their cities.
The people of Delhi gave the AAP a chance and the party gave them a clean city, mohalla clinics and the best education system. Even the Punjab government is working on the Delhi model, Singh said.
"There will be no water tax and the house tax will be reduced to half in every local body where the AAP wins the chairman's post," Singh said.
The AAP contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2022 but failed to make any headway.
Alleging that central agencies are being misused to target opposition leaders, Singh said, "I want to ask PM (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi that every day he is targeting opposition leaders. In Bengal, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) has lodged 30 cases against the TMC; on Congress, they have lodged 26 cases; in Bihar, 10 cases has been lodged on the opposition; the BSP has five cases, the Samajwadi Party has four cases against them, the NCP has three cases; in Kashmir, the National Conference has three cases. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, the government is targeting every opposition party and its leaders.
"He (Modi) should order to kill all the opposition leaders in an encounter and then he can sleep peacefully," said Singh.
The senior AAP leader also alleged that industrialist Gautam Adani is involved in a "large number of scams" but there has been no action.
Singh said Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Adani hail from Gujarat and added, "What's the relation between Adani and Modiji, I want RSS and BJP to reply."
Raising the issue of large quantities of heroin "supplied by the Taliban" being seized from Mundra port, Singh said, "This is a national security concern and I will raise this in Parliament a Joint Parliamentary Committee should be formed to probe Adani," Singh said.
The AAP leader, however, did not offer any detail into his allegations.
He also alleged that the Centre is lodging opposition leaders in jail while "feeding the supporters of Osama Bin Laden".
The government is trying to please the Taliban by giving them wheat, Singh claimed.
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Cong cites Kangana's purported remarks to accuse BJP of wanting to bring back repealed farm laws
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.
The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.
"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."
In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."
Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.
"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."
"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".
"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.
The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.
The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.
“तीनों किसान क़ानून वापस लाये जाने चाहिए” : BJP MP कंगना रनौत
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) September 24, 2024
जिन तीन काले किसान विरोधी क़ानूनों की मुख़ालिफ़त करते 750 से ज़्यादा किसान शहीद हो गए
उनको दोबारा से लाने की कोशिश की जा रही है. हम ऐसा कभी नहीं होने देंगे
सबसे पहला जवाब हरियाणा देगा pic.twitter.com/kRAkRuE2cc
