Support slipping in colonies, Cong plans water bill agitation

At a protest at Jahangirpuri on Sunday, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said, “If the Congress party is voted to power in the coming Delhi Assembly elections, it will completely stop the present practice of charging service and sewage charges from the people, which would give a huge relief in the water bills to the people.”

He said people have been getting bills of up to Rs 40,000. This is “illegal”.

The Congress had criticised AAP for such “disruptive” practices two years ago when the debutants had demanded similar non-payment with regard to power bills. In 2012, Kejriwal had launched the ‘bijli-pani satyagraha’ at Tigri Colony against “inflated” power and water bills and hike in tariffs by restoring electricity connection to the household of a labourer who had failed to pay his bills.

But now, the Congress have been organising a series of protests, targetting resettlement colonies with the promise that, if voted to power, measures will be taken to reduce water bills.

Looking to regain some ground before Delhi polls, the Congress has similarly “aided” people residing in unauthorised colonies at the Budh Bazaar Road, Mohan Garden in West Delhi. The party has alleged that the BJP has been forcing those living in unauthorised and resettlement colonies to “increase their load capacity, thereby collecting Rs 1,000 crore in an illegal manner”.

The Congress’s focus on these unauthorised colonies is not incidental. While the party’s decline in Delhi has been quick, their greatest worry continues to be the steady loss of their traditional support in these colonies. While Congress managed to hold on to MLA seats such as Sultanpur Majra, Seemapuri, Badli, Okhla and Seelampur — seats with sizeable Muslim and Dalit communities — the Lok Sabha elections saw AAP leading in these seats.

A senior party leader explained that the party was looking to target its traditional vote banks — unauthorised colonies and minority communities — to ensure that this trend is not repeated. “There is no doubt that the party is in a bad shape right now. But taking on the issue of water is important. When we were in power, this was a major reason why we lost out to AAP,” said a senior Congress leader.