AAP unveils UP urban local body poll plan; Promises to waive water tax, halve house tax

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.

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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.