With the contours of the battleground for the UP assembly election in 2022 becoming clearer, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh in a press conference made a big announcement, promising free electricity up to 300 units to the people in UP and round-the-clock free electricity to farmers if the party was voted to power.

The AAP leaders were addressing a press conference at the party office in Gomti Nagar in Lucknow on Thursday. During the press conference they focused on power supply in UP, using it as a tool to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party government and making it a public issue.

Sisodia said the AAP would also waive the old electricity bills after it came to power in UP. “This is a guarantee of Arvind Kejriwal for UP,” he said.

The Delhi deputy chief minister said AAP leaders knew that people in UP were troubled with the electricity bills and the state government's ways of realising the bills from the public.

“The people in UP are very much impressed with the Kejriwal model of governance under which people of Delhi are getting zero amount bill every month. I have come here to appeal to you that by your votes in the assembly election in 2022, the electricity bill will be zero in UP also,” Sisodia said.

Sosodia appealed to the people to elect the AAP government in UP, saying that his party’s government would announce within 24 hours free supply of 300 units of electricity in UP.

The deputy chief minister said the farmers in UP were sad because their income was not doubled as promised by the BJP.

“The farmers instead are being served inflated electricity bills which they are unable to pay,'' he said and added that the farmers would get free supply of electricity within 24 hours of the AAP forming government in UP.

Sisodia said Kejriwal had promised free electricity to farmers irrespective of their consumption if the AAP came to power in UP.

He said people in UP were being haunted by inflated electricity bills.

“The UP government is forcing them to foot the bills as delay or denial is being construed as a crime. People are committing suicide due to fear of facing criminal case for not paying electricity bills,” he said.

Sisodia said there were several such cases and he cited one case of Etah district. The AAP leader asked the consumers having hefty electricity bills to keep patience.

“You support AAP in the election and tear the electricity bills soon after the AAP government is formed in UP,” he said.

Sisodia presented data according to which 38 lakh families in UP got inflated electric bills and alleged that such consumers were being insulted by the Yogi Adityanath government. He said the present government was providing electricity at a higher rate to the people. He said electricity was not generated in Delhi but the AAP government was providing it round the clock and had ensured free supply of 300 units of electricity.

“In UP, the electricity is generated and so the work to provide round-the-clock electricity and 300 free units is much easier in UP,” he claimed.

Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Singh said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was a man of words and he fulfilled whatever he promised.