"Who Paid For Freebies?" Rekha Gupta, Atishi Face Off In Delhi Assembly

The Delhi Assembly witnessed a no-holds-barred showdown on Thursday as Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Leader of Opposition Atishi clashed over a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, with accusations of financial mismanagement, political vendetta, and misuse of public funds flying thick and fast.

The Chief Minister accused the previous Aam Aadmi Party government of spending public money on freebies which came at the cost of roads, hospitals, and schools. Atishi hit back, accusing the Centre of withholding funds and painting AAP as corrupt without context.

The CAG report, meant to be an audit document, quickly turned into political dynamite.

"They Made It Look Free, But People Paid The Price"

Standing before the House with a copy of the CAG report in hand, Rekha Gupta did not  hold back. "They acted like they were giving everything for free, electricity, water, bus rides, but it wasn't free. It was the people's money," Ms Gupta said.

She claimed a total of Rs 4,800 crore received from the Centre was spent not on infrastructure but on subsidies:

• Rs 3,250 crore on free electricity
• Rs 482 crore on bus rides
• Rs 463 crore on water

"Where are the new schools? The new hospitals? Not one major road project was completed," she said, "What they called 'governance' was just vote-bank politics."

Ms Gupta pointed to a fiscal swing from a Rs 4,566 crore surplus in 2022-23 to a Rs 3,934 crore deficit in 2023-24, blaming it on the alleged reckless spending. She also claimed that 24 hospitals launched under the AAP government remain incomplete, while costs have ballooned by Rs 2,700 crore.

She further accused AAP of blocking key Central schemes, like PM SHRI Schools, Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, and PM SVANidhi, simply because they were associated with the Prime Minister.

"Rs 2,400 crore meant for health centres wasn't used, just because the scheme had 'PM' in the name? Who loses in the end? The people of Delhi," she said.

Atishi's Counterpunch: Revenue Grew Despite Centre's Neglect

AAP's Atishi responded with numbers.

"They are calling Arvind Kejriwal corrupt based on the CAG report, but the same report shows that Delhi's tax revenue has increased every year," she said.

She broke down the numbers:

• Rs 40,019 crore in 2021-22
• Rs 47,000 crore in 2022-23
• Rs 56,000 crore in 2023-24

"Delhi's economy held strong despite being starved of funds," she said. "The Centre collects Rs 2.25 lakh crore in taxes from Delhi but gave us just Rs 850 crore, and not a single paisa in the last two years."

Ms Atishi said the drop in total revenue wasn't due to mismanagement, but due to "step-motherly treatment" from the Central Government. "They're using this report to paint AAP as corrupt, when the truth is, we kept Delhi running without any help from the Centre," she said.