The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which plans to come out with its manifesto this week, said it would work for simplification of value added tax (VAT) in Delhi to enable “businesses to grow”.

“Delhi has an extortionist system. Because of the differential VAT, the wholesale trade hub of Delhi has been pushed out of the state, Arvind Kejriwal said during a media interaction here on Monday.

He said the Congress government in Delhi had created no infrastructure for industries that had to move out after the Supreme Court’s order on pollution, adding that “industrial areas on Delhi’s outskirts have no water, electricity or roads”.

When asked about his views on privatisation of water distribution, Kejriwal said his party was opposed to privatisation of Delhi Jal Board. When asked about the impact of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi’s campaign on the Delhi elections, Kejriwal said he saw no signs of the ‘Modi effect’ in Delhi as “BJP is in bad shape in Delhi.”

Kejriwal, who filed his nomination papers recently, will take on three-time Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and BJP leader Vijender Gupta in the Delhi Assembly polls on December 4.