BJP wouldn’t need to call up big campaigners if it worked in MCD: Kejriwal

The Delhi chief minister told the people that the party’s focus was on improving sanitation services in Chirag Delhi, a part of the Greater Kailash assembly constituency located in South Delhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has “deployed several heavyweight politicians, including chief ministers and Cabinet ministers”to fight against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) because the saffron party “did no work” during its 15-year tenure in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in Chirag Delhi in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

“Had they done some work in the last 15 years, BJP would not need to bring all its heavyweights from across the country in a municipal election,” Kejriwal said during a door-to-door campaign in Chirag Delhi.

“I challenge BJP national president JP Nadda to tell us: What work did you do in MCD apart from abusing me in 15 years? Tell me one work,” he said.

In response, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta challenged Kejriwal to come to Jhauda police station at 10am on Wednesday to hear how much work the BJP has done in the corporation. “While running the MCD, the BJP set up four plants to generate electricity from garbage in Delhi, from which 100MW of electricity is being generated.The process of birth and death certificates and trade licences have also been digitised. BJP has expelled more than 100 engineers and 10 councillors for corruption. But you have still kept Satyendra Jain as minister. You are promoting corruption by not removing the person who is in jail for embezzling crores of rupees. Kejriwal says that he is being abused, someone should tell him that asking questions is a religion in a democracy and if he wants sympathy by calling it abuse, he is not going to get it in this election,” Gupta said.

He asked Kejriwal to answer why during the seven years rule of AAP, the Yamuna had not been cleaned, why pollution is choking Delhi, why public transport system is in a shambles and why Delhi Jal Board is not getting audited.

To be sure, the BJP has in the past several days, held rallies led by several heavyweights such as defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union minister Piyush Goyal, other Union ministers, several chief ministers of BJP-ruled states (including Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Madhya Pradesh, Jairam Thakur from Himachal Pradesh, Pushkar Singh Dhami from Uttarakhand, Manohar Lal Khattar from Haryana).

Meanwhile, Kejriwal, who launched the AAP’s MCD poll drive with a public meeting in Karol Bagh on November 20, rejoined the campaign trail on Tuesday, which so far was led by deputy CM Manish Sisodia because the chief minister was in Gujarat.

Electioneering for the municipal polls, scheduled on December 4, will come to an end on December 2. The AAP, in its effort to dethrone the BJP, which has ruled the MCD for three consecutive terms, has alleged that sanitation services in the Capital are extremely poor and that the party, if voted to power, will fix that. AAP leaders and workers are carrying out a ground-levell campaign “Kejriwal ki sarkar, Kejriwal ka paarshad (Kejriwal’s government, Kejriwal’s councillor)”. An AAP official said the chief minister will hold more public meetings before December 2.

Kejriwal, during the campaign, said despite being the CM he has no power to clean the city of garbage because it is under MCD’s domain. “As soon as the AAP comes to power in MCD, we will clean all the garbage, streets and drains. The support that AAP is getting during this election is stronger than last time,” he said

Flanked by security personnel and AAP leaders Kejriwal walked through alleys interacting with people in Chirag Delhi. He asked them how they were doing, whether there was water supply in the area. Kejriwal had campaigned in the same alley in 2013 when he was informed about the water crisis in the area. The people informed him that the there was water supply. Much to Kejriwal’s amusement, a woman asked him why he was not wearing his signature muffler. “It is not so cold now,” Kejriwal responded with a laugh, and got a selfie clicked with the women.

Kejriwal told the people that the party’s focus was on improving sanitation services in Chirag Delhi, a part of the Greater Kailash assembly constituency located in South Delhi.

During the campaign, Kejriwal also sat down at a local tea stall to sip tea with the residents “With the support of 20 million Delhiites, AAP will transform Delhi into a sparkling clean and beautiful city. People of Delhi are ready for change in MCD by giving a chance to AAP,” Kejriwal said.

During his interaction with the residents, Kejriwal took feedback on governance and water supply. The CM also discussed the sanitation situation with the locals. Many people in the crowd said that sanitation services in the area were poor.

“There’s garbage all over Delhi. Every nook and corner have its own mini-dump now. It was the MCD’s responsibility to look after garbage disposal but over the last 15 years, they have completely failed at it. After AAP comes to power in MCD, it will clean up all of Delhi’s garbage in no time. If you let us run the MCD, then we will be able to clear out the garbage very easily. Give me five years in MCD, we will give you a sparkling clean Delhi,” Kejriwal promised to the people and appealed to them to give an opportunity to the AAP in the MCD.

Hitting out at the BJP over its MCD poll campaign, Kejriwal alleged: “The BJP has given flashcards to their ministers so they know what to say and what not to say during electioneering. I was talking to one of their ministers, they told me that there is a complete embargo on talking about the 15-year-long run of the BJP in the MCD.”

The AAP chief said that when people ask the BJP what they have done, the BJP starts abusing him. “I want to ask them, will abusing Kejriwal resolve the MCD’s problems? Will it solve the people’s problems? Will abusing Kejriwal clean Delhi? What is the point of abusing anyone? Talk about your merit, if you dare to,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal also slammed the BJP over purported videos of jailed AAP minister Satyendar Jain which have surfaced on social media. Kejriwal said BJP leaders have started the BJP Video Company in Delhi. “They run video shows for the public like a cinema. Their morning show starts at 9am, but it flops so badly that their shop closes at 12pm itself. Their short films have no songs, no dance, they try to get their leaders to feature in some item songs in their videos yet the public doesn’t watch them. Their videos have no effect, they have no appeal, no consequence. This is why their video company is also failing and they have not released any new film this week,” Kejriwal said.