AAP to focus on garbage, sanitation in MCD campaign

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been ruling the MCD for 15 years,and since garbage and sanitation are issues that affect every Delhi resident, these offer an instant connect with the people, the AAP leaders added.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will focus on lack of sanitation, poor garbage management, and alleged corruption by Delhi’s civic bodies in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections scheduled to be held on December 4, people in the party aware of the poll strategy said on Friday.

Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (HT file)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been ruling the MCD for 15 years,and since garbage and sanitation are issues that affect every Delhi resident, these offer an instant connect with the people, the AAP leaders added.

Immediately after the MCD polls were announced, Delhi chief minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that, on December 4, the people of Delhi will vote for sanitation and cleanliness. “In the last 15 years, BJP has spread garbage all over Delhi, created mountains of garbage. This time on December 4, the people of Delhi will vote for the cleanliness of Delhi. Will vote to make Delhi clean and beautiful. This time Delhiites will also choose AAP in Municipal Corporation,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi with pictures of garbage lying in some part of the city, and another picture of the Ghazipur landfill site.

The AAP’s biggest challenge will be managing the MCD polls along with the assembly elections in Gujarat (December 1 and 5), where it is trying to spring a surprise against the ruling BJP. Unlike the BJP, however, it does not have unlimited manpower, especially at the senior level.But AAP MLA and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said the party will not face any problem on that front. “In Delhi, we have a very strong ground level organisation which will run the election campaign. The MLAs will play a crucial overall role in campaigning for the MCD polls,” Pathak said.

Kejriwal last month visited the Ghazipur landfill site to flag poor sanitation in the Capital. The party also launched a month-long “Kooda Virodhi Abhiyan” (anti-garbage campaign), and AAP leaders took groups of people to three landfill sites and highlighted their plight as evidence of misgovernance.

Pathak said the party has already covered 50% of the booths under its door-to-door campaign for the MCD polls, and bigger campaigns will be launched in the next phase.

“Our campaigns are focused on corruption and poor sanitation because everyone is affected by these two issues. The BJP only increased corruption and did nothing for sanitation, rather the situation turned worse. We will win the MCD election and fix corruption and sanitation issues,” said Pathak.