A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed the prime minister's "revadi culture" remark, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Sunday challenged him for a debate over health and education.
The AAP national convener should tell the people how many of his ministers', MLAs', and leaders' children study in Delhi's government schools, Gupta said in a press conference.
"If Delhi's health system is better, why do Kejriwal and his ministers get their treatment in private hospitals on government expenses," he asked.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the people against what he called a "revadi culture" of offering freebies for winning votes.
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The prime minister had used 'revadi', a popular north Indian sweet often distributed during festivals, as a metaphor for freebies.
Countering this, Kejriwal had said free education, healthcare, and bus travel for women were not freebies but waiving loans of friends and fetching them tenders worth thousands of crores was "free ki revadi".
"Delhi's GDP growth has gone down to -3.9 due to Kejriwal's 'Revadi' politics" while the country's GDP growth is 8.2 percent," Gupta claimed on Sunday.
It is the result of distributing 'revadis' that now Delhi's revenue is Rs 61,891 crore while expenditure stands at Rs 71,085 crore, he said.
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"The CAG in its report has expressed concern that in the form of subsidies the state government expenses went up from Rs 1,867.61 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 3,592.94 crore in 2019-20," the Delhi BJP president said.
Seeking time with the Delhi chief minister to discuss a hike in power charges, health and education, Gupta said the BJP will raise the issues through massive protests if Kejriwal has no time for people's problems.
(Inputs from PTI)
