Eye on civic polls, AAP sharpens attack on BJP-ruled municipalities

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sharpened attacks against the BJP-ruled municipal corporations in the run-up to municipal elections in April-May next year.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sharpened attacks against the BJP-ruled municipal corporations in the run-up to municipal elections in April-May next year.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sharpened attacks against the BJP-ruled municipal corporations in the run-up to municipal elections in April-May next year. (Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times)

AAP made an impressive debut in the city’s civic bodies by winning five of 13 municipal wards where by-elections were held early this year. The 2017 elections will be the party’s first full-fledged participation in civic polls.

Upping the ante against the corporations, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to protest outside the houses of mayors and other members of the political executive of the three civic bodies.

The first in the series of such protests was held near North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar’s residence on Sunday. The protest in Shakur Basti was led by Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain.

The AAP leadership has directed its MLAs to lead these protests, which will be held next from October 15 when the party would gherao East Delhi mayor’s house.

The protest at South Delhi Mayor Shyam Sharma’s residence will be held on October 16.

“The idea is to expose the BJP,” said Dilip Pandey, Convenor of AAP’s Delhi unit.

“The party is in power in MCDs for about a decade now, but they have failed to perform even its core job of maintaining sanitation. This has led to repeated outbreaks of viral diseases like dengue and chikungunya,” Pandey said.

“The MCDs have become synonymous with corruption that has rendered the civic bodies operationally and functionally defunct,” the AAP leader said.

The protests have come in the second stage of the AAP offensive against the civic bodies. In the first stage, the party volunteers held protests in August in all municipal wards represented by BJP councillors and the opposition Congress.

Soon after, the party volunteers started a ‘spot the garbage’ campaign in which hand-shaped stickers were pasted wherever unattended garbage was lying on the roadside and garbage dumps. The stickers carried a specific message--lifting the garbage is the MCD’s responsibility.

“The outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases has become a routine affair,” said a senior AAP leader.

“The MCDs have failed to keep the city clean and check mosquito breeding. Due to multiplicity of agencies, people blame other agencies for it. Through these initiatives, we want the people to know the truth,” the leader said.

The city has witnessed one of the worst outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya in 2015 and 2016. The city also witnessed its first municipal strike last year over non-payment of salary to staff. The BJP had blamed the Arvind Kejriwal government for the non-payment due to delay in disbursal of funds.