Summary Modi indicated that he wanted to bring in competition into the electricity sector.
NEW DELHI (AFP) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to provide round the clock electricity for India s capital Saturday as he kicked off his party s campaign in elections to Delhi s state assembly.
Delhi has an unenviable reputation both for blackouts and as one of the world s most polluted capitals, with diesel fumes from back-up generators adding to the cocktail of smog that regularly blankets the city.
But in a speech to supporters of his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the prime minister said that he would soon make the generators redundant.
"I promise that I will provide you with a 24-hour supply of electricity," said Modi who came to power after a landslide general election win in May.
Although the situation has improved since an infamous summer of city-wide blackouts in 2012, the Indian capital is still regularly hit by localised power cuts that are seen as hampering economic growth.
India s energy sector is almost entirely state-run and recent moves by the BJP government to open up part of the coal sector to private firms prompted a strike earlier this week.
During his rally, Modi indicated that he wanted to bring in competition into the electricity sector.
"We will introduce a system where you can choose who you want to buy your electricity from, you can select your own service provider in the same way you choose your phone s network provider," said Modi.
Delhi, a city-state of some 17 million people, has been without a proper government since last February, when firebrand anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal quit as chief minister just 49 days after taking power.
While Kejriwal s Aam Aadmi Party flopped in the general election, he again represents the major obstacle to the BJP s electoral hopes.
The BJP s failure to win control of the Delhi assembly last time round was a major shock and Modi made Kejriwal the main target of his invective, calling the self-styled anarchist a liar and "backstabber".
No date has yet been announced for the Delhi polls, although the election commission is widely expected to fix a date for mid-February in the next few days
