Kejriwal’s corruption charge forced BJP to deny tickets to sitting councillors, says AAP

The BJP’s decision to cancel tickets for sitting councillors is not just an admission of guilt, but a response to Kejriwal’s campaign against corruption in MCD, says AAP.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to cancel ticket of sitting councillors because it is “rattled” by

Kejriwal had recently released a video message in which he alleged that the sitting councillors have converted the MCDs into a hub of corruption and have amassed wealth disproportionate to their incomes.(HT File Photo)

Arvind Kejriwal’s message to Delhi people.

Kejriwal has highlighted open loot by BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and amassing of wealth by individual BJP councilors, it said.

A day after the BJP’s announcement of candidates, AAP Delhi in-charge Ashish Talwar said that the attempt of the BJP to beat anti-incumbency by dropping sitting councillors was a classical case of “drawing room theoretical politics”.

“Just by changing the faces of corruption and misrule, decades of loot cannot be swept under the carpet. BJP’s decision to cut tickets of sitting councilors is not only an admission of guilt, but a reaction to Kejriwal’s and AAP’s sustained campaign against corruption in MCD,” Talwar said.

Kejriwal had recently released a video message in which he alleged that the sitting councillors have converted the MCDs into a hub of corruption and have amassed wealth disproportionate to their incomes.

“The councilors, who used to ride a scooter, are now moving around in expensive cars and own several houses,” Kejriwal was heard saying in the video, the transcript of which was also been distributed by the party volunteers during the party’s door-to-door campaign.

Party leaders said Delhi AAP convenor Dilip Pandey has repeatedly exposed corruption in MCD, be it garbage collection scam, pension scam and ghost employees scam.

“How many cases have been filed on these scams by either the Central government-controlled Anti-Corruption Bureau or Delhi Police?” a party leader said.

The city will be voting to elect 272 councillors across the three municipal corporations.

This will be the first full-fledged civic election for AAP that won 67 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly in February 2015. In civic bypolls held last year, AAP won five out of 13 seats that went to polls.

The BJP, which has been on an electoral surge in other states, has been in power in the three corporations for a decade, while the Congress is the principal opposition.