BJP won’t get more than 20 seats in MCD this time, says Kejriwal, adds the 10 guarantees are part of a blueprint to make Delhi the ‘best global city’; BJP calls AAP ‘the most corrupt party in the country’, attacks CM over the inclusion of ex-Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam in AAP’s star campaigners list
BJP won’t get more than 20 seats in MCD this time, says Kejriwal, adds the 10 guarantees are part of a blueprint to make Delhi the ‘best global city’; BJP calls AAP ‘the most corrupt party in the country’, attacks CM over the inclusion of ex-Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam in AAP’s star campaigners list
With nearly three weeks left for the municipal polls, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced ten poll ‘guarantees’, such as clearing the city’s three landfills, regularising all municipal contractual employees, and overhauling the healthcare and education system of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). He said these ‘guarantees’ are part of a blueprint to make Delhi the “best global city”.
While AAP has made cleanliness its central poll plank in the civic elections, scheduled on December 4, the BJP has promised houses to all slum dwellers in the city through the ‘Vachan Patra (document of pledges)’ it launched on Thursday.
‘Fevicol ka jod’
The Delhi CM said his party will be bound by the guarantees made on Friday, “just like Fevicol ka Jod”.
In response to AAP’s poll promises, BJP’s national spokesperson Samit Patra said, “Mr. Kejriwal used to say that he will not enter politics, he will work for a corruption-free India, but today his party has become the most corrupt party in the country.”
While launching his party’s manifesto, the AAP chief promised to rid the MCD of corruption. The AAP chief promised that all procedures for clearing building plans will be shifted online. “Like the faceless governance in the Delhi government, we will do something solid here too. We will bring a one-time scheme to regularise minor violations in buildings by allowing the violators to pay nominal fines,” he added.
Schools, dispensaries and hospitals of the MCD are in disrepair, Mr. Kejriwal said, promising to transform them “like we have done under our government” . He also assured relief to citizens from stray animals, including cows, dogs, and monkeys. Mr. Kejriwal also raised the issue of free yoga classes and campaigns such as ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ and how they were allegedly obstructed. He appealed to the electorate to not cast their votes for people “who obstruct progress”.
“Vote for the ones who will bring progress. Don’t vote for the ones who stopped yoga, vote for the ones who started yoga. Vote for the ones who made schools for your children, not for the ones who fight and abuse,” the Delhi CM said.
Mr. Kejriwal accused the BJP of not fulfilling the promises it made in 2017.
Attacking the BJP, he said, “They promised that all the MCD’s roads and bylanes will be made pothole-free. But the condition of the municipality’s roads and bylanes has only worsened over the years. They said they would rid Delhi of garbage. These people have thrown Delhi into a pit of shame.”
Answering a question from The Hindu on how this elections would be different for AAP, as the party had fought and lost the 2017 civic elections on the issues of garbage and landfills as well, Mr. Kejriwal said, “BJP won’t get more than 20 seats this time. I’ll give [it to] you in writing.”
‘Hurt sentiments’
On Friday, AAP also released a list of 30 star campaigners for the MCD elections, including Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and former Delhi Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam among others.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said by including Mr. Gautam in AAP’s election campaign committee, Delhi CM “has shown that he has no respect for Hindu sentiments”.
The former Minister resigned last month following the controversy over his presence at an event, held in the Capital , where thousands of people purportedly converted to Buddhism while taking vows to denounce Hindu deities.
