Punjab Polls: Kejriwal promises free education for scheduled caste children

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/In a bid to woo the Scheduled Caste community ahead of Punjab assembly polls, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday promised to provide free education to their children, besides bearing their coaching fees for higher studies, if his party comes to power.

Addressing a gathering of the SC community in Hoshiarpur district, Mr. Kejriwal accused Charanjit Singh Channi of playing “vote bank politics” as the Punjab chief minister belonged to the same community. Notably, Mr Channi is the first Punjab chief minister who belongs to the SC community. The state has nearly 32 per cent Dalit population.

Mr. Kejriwal asked the people in the gathering to vote for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for once, saying they had given many chances to the rival political parties-Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal. The Delhi chief minister told the gathering that he has five “guarantees” for the SC community.

Giving details, he said the AAP government will provide best education to the children belonging to the SC community free of charge if voted to power in the Punjab assembly polls due early next year. “If a child belonging to the SC community wants coaching, like we did in Delhi, for engineering, medical education, railway, IAS or any paper, his/her entire fee will be borne by the Punjab government,” he promised.