BJP is an ideology-based party and I am committed to the party and its ideas: Union Min Harsh Vardhan
In an exclusive interview with Aaisha Sabir of Millennium Post, Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Earth Sciences, talks about the upcoming elections and the key promises to the people, which includes complete transparency and zero tolerance for corruption. Excerpts:
Initially your name was being floated as the CM face, what happened then?
It is a non issue for me. In the party, all these are non issues for us. This is an ideology-based party and I am committed to the party and its ideas, what is being floated about me is irrelevant.
What is the party's strategy in the run-up to the Delhi elections?
There is no new strategy. We have been conveying the message of the party and its ideology to the people. We are telling the people how well we have performed at the Centre in the last five years. Today, itself over 1 lakh workers were on the road and were contacting people door-to-door. All senior leaders including myself and Home Minister Amit Shah too are getting in touch with the local people. We have been receiving an overwhelming response from the people. We are going to continue with all this in the next four days too. A lot of corner meetings are happening along with roadshows. I am thoroughly confident that we will form our government post election.
Is not fielding a CM face an issue?
I don't think these things matter at all. Since the AAP has nothing to tell the people about their work they are trying to raise such issues, they are hurling lies. We have gone to the people on the basis of our performance, the work that we have done in Centre and at the corporation level. In the last five years despite the fact that we didn't have state government here, in infrastructure, we have funded projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore in Delhi itself.
What key promises are you making in this election?
We will do our best to have an all round development of the city and take care of all sections of the society from rich to the poor. The middle class, employed, unemployed, youth and senior citizens, and women will be considered and taken into account. Look after the issues like housing, water, electricity, pollution, and the cleaning of the Yamuna river. Highest level of transparency and zero tolerance for corruption in any field — will be the poll plank of the BJP in Delhi.
In health, how will BJP counter AAP's much talked about Mohalla Clinic?
As far as what I have seen of the Mohalla Clinics and the videos of it — it is an insult to the whole system of healthcare. Most of the people who go there hardly get any support, they don't even get good quality medicines, there is a scarcity of doctors as one doctor is being shared by many Mohalla Clinics. We will come up with health and wellness centres. We will try to make the healthcare sector into state-of-the-art in the national Capital and not the shabby Mohalla Clinics.
