JOIN USKejriwal 'fit' to continue fast, protest gathers more support
Even eleven days of an indefinite fast to protest against inflated power and water bills in the capital, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appeared healthy enough to continue for a few more days.
According to a party aide, Kejriwal’s health parameters were within normal range and his condition is not critical as of now.
“He is, no doubt, weak and did not even address the supporters on Tuesday but he is not likely to give up soon. If doctors are to be believed, he can continue to fast for next couple of days,” said an aide.
Meanwhile, the civil disobedience movement continues to garner support from various quarters with more than 8.3 lakh people vowing not to pay the electricity and water bills till Monday night.
Activists Aruna Roy and Medha Patkar, known to have differences with the fasting leader in the past, issued statements on Tuesday in his support and demanded a CAG audit of the private distribution companies.
“The issues raised by AAP about arbitrarily high power tariffs warrant an immediate and detailed investigation by an independent and competent body. It would be appropriate if the government were to ask the CAG to conduct a special audit of electricity and water supply in Delhi and make the findings public in a fixed and short time frame,” said Roy, in a statement while exhorting Kejriwal to cease fasting.
Meanwhile, AAP spokesperson Manish Sisodia challenged the claims of power distribution companies that they have not recorded any losses in its collection so far. “If that is the case, then we urge these companies to make public all their collections.
They should put all their income-expenditure figures in the public domain. If there is no fudging in its accounts, then why are they afraid of getting audited by CAG,” said Sisodia, adding that all the three discoms should put their revenue figures starting from the beginning of their operations in Delhi till date so that people can themselves analyse whether they are making profits or incurring losses.
Kejriwal is sitting on an indefinite fast at a house in Sundar Nagari to urge Delhiites to exhibit gross dissent — labelled as civil disobedience by his party — by refusing to pay water and power bills, because they are allegedly inflated.