Rekha Gupta slams Atishi over promise allegations

Taking strong exception to former AAP leader and former Chief Minister Atishi’s accusation of “breaking promises,” newly sworn-in Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday said the AAP ruled Delhi for 13 years and they have no right to question them.

In a sharp rebuttal to Atishi’s remarks, Gupta said, “The Congress ruled for 15 years and the AAP ruled for 13. Instead of looking at what they did, how can they raise questions on one day of ours?… We had a cabinet meeting on day 1, immediately after taking the oath, and we cleared the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which was blocked by the AAP. We gave a benefit of `10 Lakhs to the people of Delhi on the first day.”

Gupta was sworn-in as Delhi Chief Minister and six other MLAs were inducted into her cabinet on Thursday. At its maiden meeting on Thursday, the newly-formed Delhi Cabinet approved the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the capital, discussed Mahila Samriddhi Yojna, and also decided to table 14 pending CAG reports in the first session of the eighth Assembly. The war of words escalated after Atishi accused the BJP of “deceiving Delhiites”, alleging the party had failed to deliver on its promise of `2,500 cash assistance to women in the first cabinet meeting.

Gupta alleged that both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had deprived the people of Delhi of their rights and only raised slogans without taking any real action.  "Congress ruled Delhi for 15 years and after that it was the AAP... Yet, they never addressed the issues of the people of Delhi. And now, just one day after we took office, they have started questioning our government," Gupta said. Highlighting her party's swift decision making, she stated, "We are the ones who passed the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in our very first cabinet meeting.

We took oath and on the same day approved the scheme that AAP had stalled for years."   She suggested that the two parties should focus on their own party issues.

"Many of their members are ready to leave, and they are worried because we are committed to fulfilling all our promises."