BJP had 15 years to clean city, time for a change now: Arvind Kejriwal

Voting the AAP to the MCD, Arvind Kejriwal said, will end the fight over jurisdiction as well. “All roads, all drains will be under AAP and there will not be any fight over jurisdiction,” he said.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday urged voters to elect the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the municipal corporation in the upcoming December 4 elections, claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done nothing to clean the Capital during its 15-year tenure in the civic body.

Arvind Kejriwal at a road show on Roshanara Road in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The BJP has been in power in the MCD for the last 15 years and is eying a fourth successive term in the civic body, while the AAP, which has ruled Delhi since 2015, is seeking to wrest the corporation’s control from the BJP. The electioneering for the polls will come to an end on the evening of December 2.

Speaking during an election campaign in north Delhi’s Malka Ganj area, Kejriwal said his government could not clean the city because sanitation services do not come under the state.

“It pains my heart to see Delhi engulfed by garbage. Despite being the CM, I have no power to clean garbage because the MCD is under the BJP. Delhi residents gave us the responsibility of schools, hospitals, electricity, water. We fixed everything and provided free healthcare and electricity to everyone. The people gave the BJP one job -- they had to look after the garbage -- but even after 15 years, they could not clean Delhi,” the CM said.

Taking potshots at the BJP leadership for sending union ministers and chief ministers to canvass for the party for the polls, Kejriwal said, “The BJP has deployed seven chief ministers, one deputy chief minister and 17 union ministers to fight against one aam aadmi (common man) because the BJP has done nothing in 15 years.”

The BJP did not comment on Kejriwal’s allegations about Delhi’s garbage issues.

Speaking at the north Delhi rally, Kejriwal claimed that if voted to power, the AAP will within a few months make the MCD corruption free, will clean the city, and ensure that all services are digitised. “MCD employees will get paid on time, the garbage mountains will be removed, and RWAs will get the status of mini councillors and will get funds to empower them for self-governance,” he said.

“No power can stop AAP from winning the MCD elections, and the people of Delhi will vote for the party that wants to work, and not for the party that wants to stop all works,” Kejriwal said, alleging that the BJP stopped the files for mohalla clinics and CCTVs, and claiming that the lieutenant governor stopped the free yoga classes that the AAP government was running.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s promise of a mini councillor status to RWAs, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “They are trying to mislead the RWAs by promising mini councillor status. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised that liquor vends will be closed if mohalla sabhas don’t approve it. But what we see is just the opposite. Today, Kejriwal has to answer which mohalla sabha approved the excise policy.”

Patra added, “The BJP in its manifesto has assured to work with resident welfare associations. Kejriwal is now trying to usurp the partnership, but on the basis of his past actions this new promise will also prove to be false.”

Kejriwal also stated that voting the AAP to the MCD will ensure that there is better synchronisation with the state government.

“The Delhi government is ours and the AAP is going to come to the MCD as well... Together, my MLAs and my councillors will do all your work, but if their councillor wins in your ward, he will make your life hell for five years. That’s why I warn you to not choose the councillor of another party by mistake,” he said.

Kejriwal also touched upon the finances of the civic body -- a contentious topic on which the AAP and the BJP have engaged in a blame game: while the BJP has accused the AAP government of starving the MCD of funds, the AAP has claimed that the state government has paid the civic body ₹1 lakh crore in grants which, the party has alleged, the BJP did not use.

Kejriwal said, “The central government refuses to pay Delhi its rightful share of funds. We practically get nothing from the Centre all year. Despite that, we did a lot of work… We built schools, mohalla clinics, hospitals, transformed the whole system… We did not cry for funds like them.”

Voting the AAP to the MCD, Kejriwal claimed, will end the fight over jurisdiction as well. “All roads, all drains will be under AAP and there will not be any fight over jurisdiction,” he said.