Talk to AK: Kejriwal says Delhi govt lowered taxes, focused on education

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal began his first-ever interactive ‘Talk to AK’ session on Sunday where people from across the country can ask him questions over phone, by sending text messages and through social media.

Kejriwal said that his government had fast tracked several pending infrastructure projects, as well as completed them by spending less than the earmarked cost.

He said that by saving such costs, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi was able to cut tax on a variety of items, reducing the prices of various commodities.

Kejriwal, who had Deputy CM Manish Sisodia sitting next to him, said that the state government had doubled the education budget. He listed clean toilets for girl children and better facilities in schools as an achievement of the government.

The move, intended to reach out to people across the country, comes at a time when Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up for Assembly elections in states such as Goa, Punjab and Gujarat.

The chief minister will hold the hour-long live session on Sunday at 11 am and take questions through Twitter, Facebook, phone calls and text messages. The government has made arrangements at the Delhi Secretariat from where Kejriwal will interact with people.

The government has launched a dedicated website www.talktoak.com through which people can ask questions directly. They can also ask questions by calling -- 011-23392999.

If ‘Talk to AK’ gets good response from people, it will be held every month, an official said.

Organisers of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s interaction with the public said on Saturday they have received more than 20,000 queries from across the country over a wide range of issues.

“We have received thousands of questions through messages and social media in the last few days. The chief minister will answer people’s questions and music composer Vishal Dadlani will moderate the hour-long session,” a government spokesperson said.

To a question on whether the programme is on the line of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio programme ‘Maan ki Baat’, he said it is a different programme where Kejriwal will take people’s questions directly.

Top AAP brass noted that ‘Talk to Ak’ was not to be like Prime Minister Mann ki Baat. “That is more of a monologue, while we are into a detailed interaction with the people,” pointed out a senior leader of the party.

“For a long time, the media team of the chief minister was working on the project. He is expected to start the interaction by speaking about the AAP government’s performance over the past year and a half and thereafter he will take questions from people,” another official said.

The Opposition BJP in Delhi said ‘Talk to AK’ should ideally have restricted itself to issues related to Delhi. “If Kejriwal wants to answer questions related to Punjab and other states, then AAP should bear the cost of publicity and telecast of this programme ,” the party’s state president Satish Upadhyay said.

Sources said some sought to know about an ongoing tussle between AAP and the central government over a range of administrative issues. “Some are asking why union government is not letting the state administration work,” the official said. “Many have send in queries on corruption as well.”

According to senior leaders with the APP, the idea behind ‘Talk to AK’ is to to get a pulse of people’s impression about the party and its functioning at the political as well as administrative levels.