New Delhi is staring at a financial crisis just one year into the BJP-led government’s tenure, according to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj. In a scathing attack on Saturday, Bharadwaj accused the Rekha Gupta administration of plunging the capital into debt, forcing it to borrow Rs 1,000 crore from the open market for the first time in history.
Bharadwaj highlighted the irony of last year’s much-hyped Rs 1 lakh crore budget, presented by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta as a monumental achievement. ‘That budget was nothing but a hot air balloon,’ he declared, questioning where the funds vanished and why borrowing is now necessary.
He pointed out massive hoardings across Delhi boasting the grand budget, yet no clarity on funding sources. Now, reports suggest the government quietly approached the Reserve Bank for permission to raise the loan.
Under AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi consistently ran surplus revenue budgets without market borrowings. Bharadwaj alleged the BJP has wrecked this fiscal discipline in record time.
Development claims by the government ring hollow, he said. No new projects launched; instead, AAP initiatives are merely rebranded. Existing dispensaries and Mohalla Clinics get a paint job and renamed ‘Arogya Mandir.’ Kejriwal-era buses are repainted as ‘Devi Bus.’ Even Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Excellence boards are replaced with ‘CM Shri School,’ falsely claiming 73 new schools without a single tender or brick laid.
Bharadwaj revealed 540 Mohalla Clinics have dwindled to about 100 operational ones, with 450 shut down. He demanded a full accounting of the Rs 1 lakh crore budget and transparency on the debt spiral.
As Delhi voters watch, the AAP leader’s call for fiscal accountability grows louder, raising questions about governance priorities in the national capital.