I am overwhelmed

I am overwhelmed by the support shown by West Delhi residents in electing me as their Member of Parliament and would want to reiterate my commitment towards bringing about a perceptible change in the infrastructure, increasing water availability and augmentation of power supply by pushing hard for a power project in the area. With the election behind us, I wish to put on record that winning the election is just the beginning and I am looking forward to help and promote welfare of every resident in the area. And let me assure you that party affiliations of individual residents shall not come in the way of my doing my bit for them as an MP. Those who supported my Congress party and even those who supported other parties in the election should feel free to approach me and I shall do my best to serve them. As Mahatma Gandhi once said “work is worship” and that is the driving principle in my life and shall continue to be in the future. I would need everybody’s co-operation to realize the dreams of party president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and my own. Thanks once again, Jai Hind.

Power-full West Delhi

Power availability in a metro city like Delhi is very important to keep its engines running. With growth in population the demand in the city has also grown many times, especially in West Delhi, where the density of population has increased over the last 10 decades due to creation of new colonies. I have always strived to ensure that a basic facility like electricity is available to all those who are willing to pay for it. Thus, I have decided to focus on expediting the proposal to set up a power plant in West Delhi. Also, I firmly believe that the nuclear deal signed by our government at the Centre would help cheap electricity and boost the supply in the country, including the Northern Grid that caters to the Capital’s needs.

A modern city’s identity is defined by the quality of life enjoyed by its citizens and West Delhi residents are witness to the improvement in power situation that has come about in their area under Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit over the years. Let me assure you, this is just the beginning. I would strive to make West Delhi a power surplus and no-power cut area by getting the new power project off the ground at the earliest.

Rahul Ji is an inspiration for first-time voters

Never before have I seen such enthusiasm among the youth to vote and express themselves. Those who claim that the young generation is the least interested in politics need to do a rethink as the response that I am getting from them in my election meetings is tremendous.

This brings me to another aspect of the youth’s apparent leaning towards the Congress. In my view Rahul Gandhi is a youth icon and a leader who is looked upon by the young generation, especially the first-time voters, as an inspiration.

In him they see a young person who has the vision to serve the country. In fact, it was his father, Late Rajiv Gandhiji, who lowered the voting age to 18 years and gave the youth a say in shaping up the nation’s future.

It goes without saying that my party cares for the young. It not only promotes their cause but also makes policies that are based on the aspirations of the young generations. I, too, am keen to serve the young. Be it education, sports or recreation, facilities for all these activities in city’s west are going to be the best. This is my commitment.

Housing for Aam Log

A roof over his head is every citizen’s right and this is the reason why lakhs of people in Delhi chose colonies in West Delhi to build their homes. Many of these colonies were without legal sanction yet the common man’s urge to have a dream home of his own in the city drew them to these areas in hordes.

And to honour their basic right to decent housing, I took it up as a challenge to get the “illegal” tag removed from the colonies in West Delhi which were house to lakhs of people who had invested their life’s savings in it. The process began over seven years ago. I always had the blessings of Hon’ble Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

I approached the Lt-Governor to de-notify these colonies immediately as both the MCD and Delhi government cannot provide any civic amenities to these areas so long as the land is under the DDA. He gave his clearance and development work in these colonies began immediately.

It is for the people to decide as to whom should the credit go but I have the satisfaction of having put in my heart and soul in brining cheer to the aam admi & aurat (Aam Log) in West Delhi who was surviving in pathetic conditions due to lack of development in these colonies.

I am humbled

I really thank all readers of my blog, people who sent in their best wishes and those who accompanied me when I went early in the day today to file my nominations for the West Delhi Parliamentary Constituency as a Congress candidate. I am humbled and touched by your love, support and faith in me.

I have a special word of gratitude for all my friends from the media who spent their valuable time and suffered the scorching heat. In case I could not give time to anyone of you because of reasons beyond my control, I use this medium to submit my apologies.

The days ahead are gruesome and challenging and I shall continue to count on your affection.

Yours truly.

I will follow Dr Manmohan Singh's path

UPA follows Ambedkar’s vision

Our unity is our strength. And this is the message that has been strongly sent out by the UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh during its rule. By taking all the communities along in his policy matters, the UPA government has put to practice Dr B R Ambedkar’s ideology of welfare of all.

Dr Ambedkar, while creating the Constitution, took care to give the country a statute that was aimed at binding all communities and help them move ahead together.

And by not losing sight of the vision of the framers of Constitution, the UPA government has shown to the divisive forces that we are a secular country and our strength lies in our unity and ability to exploit it for development and welfare of every citizen.

The Prime Minister has been a role model in accomplishing this myriad task and has taken all communities together on the road to progress and I promise that his successful model of development and growth for all, including the underprivileged, would be emulated by me in my West Delhi constituency as well.

Dr Manmohan Singh should be voted as the next Prime Minister as he has been an able administrator who had the vision to see the N-deal through and also address the concerns of the aam admi by initiating the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The aam admi in my constituency shall also be on top of my priority in terms of development works like connectivity through Metro, power supply augmentation and provision of piped water supply in all those rural areas where this facility is not available.

Drain, what a pain

As I have often been talking about the importance of a good quality of life, there can be nothing more basic for residents living close to big drains in West Delhi than to have these eye-sores covered. In fact, my concept on covering stinking drains – breeding grounds for mosquitoes – extends beyond covering them up.

As strong believer in quality civic life, I would like to ensure that these drains after being covered are converted into green zones. Interestingly, for those who may not know, some of the drains were once canals or tributaries of rivers which over the decades got converted into channels for sewage as the population in the city expanded. In other parts of the city, Honourable Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has even backed schemes for covering drains and using them as roads for traffic. All said and done, there is a crying need to address the problems of people living near the drains and as such no modern city can pat its back over its urban infrastructure unless such drains are kept covered.