After free electricity, Arvind Kejriwal promises jobs to unemployed in Gujarat

After promising free electricity of up to 300 units, Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday, as part of his election promise, Rs 3,000 monthly unemployment allowance and guaranteed a job to every youth in Gujarat.

Addressing a gathering at Veraval in Gir Somnath district, Kejriwal lashed out at those criticising him about “freebies”. Kejriwal, who is also the Delhi chief minister, has made several promises if his party was voted to power in the state in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Without naming any individual or party, Kejriwal said: “They are saying that Kejriwal is distributing free ki revadi (freebies), but these people are distributing revadis to their friends who take these revadis to Swiss banks. Recently, an expressway was inaugurated in Bundelkhand, and within five days it caved in. How did this happen? This means free revadis were distributed among the contractors.”

He stated that while those in other parties distributed “revadis to their friends, ministers, businessmen and contractors”, he gave “revadis to the public.”

The Delhi CM, mentioning the deaths in the recent hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad and Botad district, criticised how “thousands of crores of illicit liquor trade” was flourishing under the Bharatiya Janata Party government. “In the name of liquor prohibition, an illicit business of thousands of crores is being run in the state,” Kejriwal alleged.

Kejriwal said that if the AAP formed a government in Gujarat, his party would ensure that every unemployed youth gets a job in the next five years. He also attacked the incumbent Gujarat government about the repeated question paper leaks of recruitment exams, and promised that if he formed the government, he would bring about special laws to stop such leaks and punish the culprits.

Recounting when he was stopped from attending the ‘Eighth World Cities Summit and WCS Mayors Forum’ in Singapore, he said: “The Singapore government invited me, along with top leaders of the world. I was invited to share the good work we have (done) in Delhi. But these people stopped me from going to Singapore.”

The Delhi chief minister also said that he was invited to address the event as the chief minister of Delhi. “They wrote to the Singapore government to invite any of their chief ministers. The Singapore government wrote them back to name a single CM who has done any work. They don’t have a CM who has done anything,” Kejriwal quipped.