Freebies not sustainable: Shivani Chopra
In a tete-a-tete, Congress candidate from Kalkaji constituency Shivani Chopra talked to Nikita Jain of Millennium Post, about her campaign strategy and the issues she will be focussing on in her constituency. A young advocate, Chopra is confident that the grand old party will do well this time. With a major focus on women's safety, Chopra speaks about how she is going to focus on improving the conditions. Shivani Chopra, daughter of Delhi Congress president Subhash Chopra, feels people have seen her growing up, which will also play a vital role for her in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Excerpts
What issues you are focussing on in your constituency?
What I have seen by far is that it is just normal issues like roads, water, electricity, and women's safety. There are no CCTV cameras anywhere, and if installed, they do not work. There are no lights. There was a chain of development that was stopped with the coming of Aam Aadmi Party, I will be focussing on that.
Women safety is an important issue, how will you tackle if you come to power?
It should start with something basic that roads should be there. If we need to go out at night, roads should be proper. If I am tumbling and falling, it would not work. Secondly, lights are one another thing I will be focussing on. Yesterday, I had gone to a meeting in Gari Village, and there was not a single light there. And also the people told me there that CCTV cameras don't work, so these are the three things I will be focussing on for women's safety.
How connected you are to the Kalkaji Constituency
I am very connected and this connection is not just now, it is because my father has been MLA from there for 15 years and people know me by face and name. People have seen me growing up. It is amazing because everywhere I go, people give me so much blessing and love that it is overwhelming. I think this is going to help me connect to the voters as well.
How will you convince the people to vote for you, especially with AAP as a competitor and the freebies?
With regard to the freebies, I would say something like that is not sustainable. It has to be continuous. You can't just not work for five years and say that no one is letting you work and then give out freebies with a time period. After March 31, they are blatantly saying there are no more freebies. I don't think it is a sustainable way to run a state and AAP needs to learn how Congress ran the state during Sheila Dikshit's tenure.
What is your campaign strategy?
We are doing more one on one. We have less time but I still want to know what the problems of the people are because in all honesty I have just stepped into the political world, although I have worked with Congress but on different levels. But now I want to have a different connection with people, I want to hear their problems. So, our strategy is one-on-one and talk to smaller groups.
