New Delhi, April 2
A separate BJP manifesto released today for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi has no mention of national issues. All 36 points in the eight-page manifesto are related to the city.

The manifesto has a mention of speedy trail of 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases, but there is no mention of setting up of an SIT though a few days ago in a joint conference with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), the BJP had promised SIT.

When this issue was raised by the media, Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan who is also contesting from Chandni Chowk said, "We are telling on record for the setting up of SIT under the supervision of Supreme Court. Telling on record is more important than mentioning it in manifesto," he said.

Another important point in the manifesto is setting up of a Madrassa Board to include modern education in it. It also promised to fill up of vacancies of Urdu and Punjabi language teachers, adequate education centres in the minority-dominated areas and training centres for skill development and entrepreneurship.

It has also reiterated its old assurance of full statehood for Delhi, good governance, effective Lokayukta, speedy trial of all the pending cases, controlling inflation within 30 days, reduction of power tariff up to 30 per cent and making Delhi a solar energy capital by generation of solar power on rooftops.

Releasing the manifesto, Vardhan in the presence of Delhi BJP's Election Management and Campaign Committee chairman Vijay Kumar Malhotra and the seven Lok Sabha candidates announced that water in Delhi would not be privatised.

The manifesto also mentioned induction of 500 new buses and development of Metro Rail.

It also talked of ensuring availability of 25 essential drugs free of charge to every citizen from birth till death, mobile OPD and trauma centre in the poor colonies, generic medicines at cheaper rates and 30 per cent budget for preventive health care.

Raising the issue of education in Delhi, the manifesto said there would be a three-year degree course instead of four at Delhi University, establishment of its east Delhi campus, opening new schools, colleges, scholarship to eligible students of weaker sections and new hostels for girls in rural areas.

The manifesto said for improvement in the road transport, there would be mono rail. There would be concrete houses for jhuggi dwellers, northeastern settlers would get protection, Besides, the manifesto mentioned cleaning the Yamuna, property ownership to residents of resettlement colonies, filling up of vacancies of SC, ST, OBC categories and their timebound promotion, development of heritage property and redevelopment plan of the walled city.

New Delhi, April 2
Describing BJP's Delhi-specific manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections as a bundle of lies, Congress in the national Capital today dismissed it as a "document of betrayal".

"Promising full statehood for Delhi is nothing new to the BJP and it is trying to mislead the Delhi's people through its election manifesto," Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh told a press conference.

Earlier in the day, BJP released its first Delhi-specific manifesto with an array of promises like granting full statehood, reducing power tariff by 30 per cent and controlling price rise within one month if voted to power.

"BJP should first clarify why it was silent when L K Advani, who was the deputy PM during NDA government, had issued notification to snatch even the existing powers of Delhi government," Singh said.

Congress leader Mukesh Sharma said BJP was fooling people by promising 30 per cent reduction in power tariff.

"BJP has never clarified what steps it would take to make power and water cheaper. Traffic blockades created during the BJP-rule on power and water issues have not been forgotten by Delhi's residents," Sharma told reporters.

Terming BJP an enemy of over 50 lakh people living in unauthorised colonies, he noted that the saffron party had created several roadblocks in the regularisation of these colonies.

"BJP's promise to the minorities is totally false. It never had any empathy for minorities. Congress not only promised, but also fulfilled its promise of increasing the Lal Dora area and developing urban villages with all civic amenities," Sharma said. — PTI

NEW DELHI, April 2
The battle for North West Delhi, the Capital's lone reserved Lok Sabha constituency, is in full swing with the BJP fielding well-known Dalit leader Udit Raj as its candidate to take on the sitting Congress Member of Parliament and Union Minister Krishna Tirath.

Besides the other main contender in Delhi's triangular contest, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded its former minister, 27-year-old Rakhi Birla, to spring up another possible surprise after the party's spectacular debut in the last November Delhi Assembly elections.

Incidentally, the North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency has the smallest number of candidates in the field. Among the 14 candidates in fray, besides the three main political parties, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has also put up a candidate in a bid to attract the Dalit and the Scheduled Caste votes, which comprise the majority in the constituency.

Sharing its border with Haryana and comprising 100 villages, northwestern part of the city truly represents the rural face of Delhi.

Over the years, cluster of villages in southern part of the city witnessed massive urbanisation and real estate boom, but the North West Delhi Lok Sabha area still lacks basic amenities, better roads and public transport.

The sorry state of affairs can be gauged from the fact that no public convenience has been constructed here. People are seen defecating in the open and according to a survey, the region does not have any toilet facility for the women.

Significantly, this region has seen little growth in terms of infrastructure over the past few years as only a few of the new roads were laid and some good education institutes came up, but comparatively the entire region remains considerably under-developed.

Having won five of the 10 assembly seats that come under the North West Delhi parliamentary constituency in the 2013 state election, the BJP has reason to feel bullish about its chances here.

So does the AAP, which pulled off some major upsets in the last assembly elections winning three out of the 10 assembly seats. The most stunning being the unseating of four-time Congress MLA and former state minister Raj Kumar Chauhan from a reserved seat (Mangolpuri) by a margin of over 10,000 votes from Rakhi Birla, who is also now in the fray for the Lok Sabha seat.

The 10 state assembly seats which fall under the North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency are: Narela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana (reserved), Mundka, Kirari, Sultanpur Majra (reserved), Nangloi Jat, Mangolpuri (reserved) and Rohini.

Carved out of the Outer Delhi constituency, after the implementation of the 2008 order of the Delimitation Commission, North West Delhi, which is the largest of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi with 17.9 lakh voters, also has the highest percentage of Dalit voters (21 per cent).

Sharing its border with Haryana, it also has a sizeable Jat population which is estimated at around 16 per cent.

Among the other communities that make up the constituency are Brahmins (12 per cent), Banias (10-11 per cent), OBCs (20 per cent) and Muslims (5-8 per cent).

With the exception of the 1990s, the Congress has more or less been the party of choice in what was used to be part of the Outer Delhi constituency.

In 2004, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar won the seat and in 1999 it was BJP's Sahib Singh Verma.

In 2009, Tirath defeated her BJP rival Meena Kanwaria by a comfortable margin of 1.8 lakh votes. The third party in the contest, the BSP came a distant third with only 44,000 votes (to Tirath's 4.8 lakh votes).

However, now post the Congress party's dismal showing in the assembly elections, the principal opposition party has a new political threat to contend with.

BJP candidate Udit Raj has already trained his guns on Kejriwal and his party's 49-day government. Raj, who is head of the National Confederation of SCs/STs, joined the BJP last month.

Both the Congress and the BSP have been quick to dismiss Raj's candidature as a "weak" choice, describing him as an "outsider" who has no contact with the voters. A charge Raj rejects on the grounds that he is a "national leader" and has "lived in Delhi for 34 years".

New Delhi, April 2
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today said his main aim is to defeat Narendra Modi and not to reach Parliament.

"If my aim was to reach Parliament, I would fight the Lok Sabha elections from a safe seat," said the former Delhi Chief Minister from atop an open vehicle during a road-show in East Delhi. The cavalcade was attended by around 400 people who walked the campaign while some followed on bike.

Mobilising support for East Delhi AAP candidate Rajmohan Gandhi, Kejriwal launched a strong attack on both the BJP and the Congress. It was the second straight day of campaigning in Delhi by Kejriwal, whose government collapsed after 49 days' rule.

"I want to defeat Modi. That is why I am fighting election from Varanasi. It is also important to defeat (Congress vice-president) Rahul Gandhi. That is why (AAP's) Kumar Vishwas is contesting in Amethi," he said while his rally made way through some congested areas.

On the other side, Ashish Khetan, AAP's New Delhi candidate promised to involve the common man in the decisions of the utilisation of public funds and formulation of policies for infrastructure development, while releasing his manifesto for the constituency.

Khetan promised to give free piped water supply of 20 kilolitres to each household every month. He also said that electricity supply of 400 units per month will be given at subsidised rates.

When asked how he plans to fulfil these two promises, Khetan said, "It is the duty of an MP to raise people's issues and ensure that the government creates policies and implements them."

Khetan said that the funds given by the Central government to the New Delhi area and New Delhi Municipal Council need to be spent after consultation with the residents. 

New Delhi, April 2
One-third of the 150 candidates who are in the fray for seven Lok Sabha seats in the National capital are crorepatis with Union minister Kapil Sibal being the richest of them with assets worth over Rs 114 crore, a report says.

Ramanuj Patel, who is contesting from the Samyak Parivartan Party, is the poorest and has declared Rs 100 as his assets.

According to a report of Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Delhi Election Watch (DEW), based on the analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of all the 150 candidates, the average assets per candidate contesting from Delhi is Rs 3.09 crore.

In the category of crorepati candidates, Sibal is followed by sitting MP and Congress candidate from West Delhi Mahabal Mishra (Rs 38 cr) and BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi (Rs 34 cr), who is contesting from the New Delhi constituency.

Party-wise, all the seven candidates of the Congress, six candidates each of the BJP and the AAP and three candidates of the BSP have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Four out of five candidates in the All India Trinamool Congress too have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, said the report.

"Among major parties, the average assets of the Congress candidates is Rs 28.29 crore, seven BJP candidates have an average assets of Rs 12.60 crore and seven AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.01 crore," it added.

As many as 11 candidates have more than Rs 10 crore worth of assets; while a total of 43 candidates have declared assets less than Rs 10 Lakh.

A total of 50 candidates out of total 150 have declared liabilities. Manoj Tiwari of the BJP, who is contesting from the North East Delhi constituency, has declared liabilities worth Rs 3.46 crore.

Tiwari is followed by Parvesh Sahib Singh of the BJP from the West Delhi constituency with liabilities worth Rs 2.66 crore and Ashutosh of the AAP from the Chandni Chowk constituency with liabilities worth Rs 1.11 crore, the report said.

As many as 23 candidates have declared total annual income of over Rs 10 lakh. The total income includes income of self, spouse and dependents.

The report further stated that six candidates with assets worth more than Rs 1 crore have not declared their Income Tax Details, while 16 have not declared their PAN details. Twenty candidates have not given value for at least one immovable asset declared in their affidavits.

As far as education qualification of candidates is concerned, 77 candidates have educational qualification of Class XII or below while 65 are graduates or have higher degrees. There are four illiterate candidates in fray.—PTI

New Delhi, April 2
A 26-year-old property dealer was allegedly shot at in his head in southeast Delhi's Bhagwan Nagar this afternoon. The victim has been identified as Naveen Sharma, who is currently in a critical condition, according to the police.

The incident took place at Sharma's office at Bhagwan Nagar at about 4 pm today.

At about 4:30 pm, his relative arrived at the office and saw the door wide open. The relative went inside and saw Sharma lying on the floor next to a table. He had an injury on his head.

Sharma was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre by his family and the police were informed. A case has been registered in this regard.

"Other persons present at the building at the time of the incident claim they heard no sound of gunshot from the victim's office. They did not notice anything unusual," said a police officer.

Sharma's relatives have told the police that no one from his family was present at the office during the incident. "We initially suspected it to be a case of attempt to suicide, but we were unable to recover any weapon from the office," said the officer ruling out suicide.

Sharma's family have informed the police that he spoke to them about a property dispute with a person, but they have been unable to give any details of this person.

"We are waiting for him to recover so that we can question him on what happened at his office.

“We had hoped to identify the culprits from the CCTV footage, but that has not helped," said the police officer.

New Delhi, April 2
The Delhi Police's response time to crime in the national Capital is likely to be delayed due to a 48-hour "routine" maintenance work at the Central Police Control Room, which receives distress calls on its emergency number-100.

While confirming this development, the police said that the maintenance work will take place from 10 pm on Thursday until 10 pm on Saturday.

A senior police officer, privy to this development, said that with the maintenance of the computer system of the Central Police Control Room, its upgradation will also take place.

The control room currently receives an average of 23,000 calls on the emergency number-100. "These calls are mostly on fights," said the officer.

Under the computer system of the control room called the "Police Emergency Number 100 System", when a person in distress makes a call on 100, the call is connected to an operator sitting at the control room. The operator fills up an online "form" with the complaint of the person, the area where the crime has taken place and the police station concerned. The form is then dispatched online to the police control room vehicle located nearest to the area, where the crime has taken place. The policemen sitting inside the vehicle receive the message in their wireless sets through GRPS.

"During the maintenance work, the form will have to be filled manually. The process may delay our response time by about a couple of minutes," said the officer.

New Delhi, April 2
The Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung today suggested to augment facilities at Kasturba Hospital in Daryaganj and directed the authorities to concentrate on health awareness programmes for patients, including counselling on dietary habits and lifestyle diseases.

Paying a visit to the hospital, Jung inspected the healthcare facilities, including those for women and children. As part of his visit, he visited the OPD block, the labour room, children's ward, thalassemia ward, newborn intensive care unit and other wards.

During his visit, the LG interacted with the patients, relatives and staff of the hospital. He spent a couple of hours at the hospital, hearing the patients' problems, especially of women and children. He closely interacted with the patients in the thalassemia ward, medicine and other OPDs.

A presentation for the construction of a new multi-disciplinary and state-of-the-art hospital building with 300 beds was made to him.