The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Monday said the Delhi government’s move to make metro and bus travel free for women was an election gimmick and a “desperate attempt buy votes” ahead of 2020 assembly elections.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will once again blame the Centre when they are unable to implement it. “He (Kejriwal) is announcement minister of Delhi. He makes these big announcements and promises which he is unable to fulfil. He should tell the people of Delhi how he will implement this scheme when Delhi Transport Corporation has just 3,500-3,800 buses? This is nothing but an election gimmick, a desperate attempt to buy votes. But this will also fail and they will blame the Centre for it,” said Tiwari.

Vijender Gupta, leader of the opposition in the Delhi assembly, said, “Identification of male and female passengers would be technically and financially challenging. Close to 40% women Metro users come from outside Delhi. It would not be possible to identify the total beneficiaries.”

The BJP also questioned the timing of the announcement. Tiwari said instead of providing panic buttons in buses, the AAP government has pressed the panic button after its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. “What was the AAP government doing for 52 month? They have now hit the panic button after their defeat in Lok Sabha elections. They have now implemented the 10% quota in jobs for economically weaker section in general category. If they are so serious about it, then the government should have implemented it immediately,” said Tiwari.

The Congress was also dismissive of the scheme. Delhi Congress chief and former CM Sheila Dikshit said, “Arvind Kejriwal is the CM, let him try to implement this successfully.”

Other Congress leaders also questioned why other sections such as senior citizens and students were not included. “This is merely a pre-poll gimmick. What happened to all the other promises to make the city safer for women?” said Congress spokesperson Jitender Kochar.

First Published: Jun 04, 2019 06:22 IST