MCD unification nothing more than an excuse for delaying elections: AAP
AAP to announce its plan of action against BJP once the MCD unification bill becomes public: Gopal Rai
PM Modi feels scared of CM Kejriwal and AAP ever since he saw the Punjab result: Atishi
BJP claims to be the biggest political party but is running away from a small municipal election: Atishi
If the trifurcation was causing problems in running MCD why did the BJP not unify it during its 15 year rule: Atishi
If the Delhi Election Commissioner wasn’t corrupt he won’t have succumbed to BJP’s threats and postponed the elections: Atishi
Democracy is under threat today; if the BJP senses its defeat in Gujrat will it ask the EC to delay elections saying it wants to merge Gujarat and Maharashtra?: Atishi
Delhiites will vote AAP to power with a thumping majority in MCD to get rid of BJP’s corruption: Saurabh Bhardwaj
Very certain that the people of Delhi want to bring the Kejriwal Model to MCD as well and throw the BJP out: Durgesh Pathak
NEW DELHI:
The Aam Aadmi Party launched a scathing attack on the BJP for delaying MCD elections and challenged BJP to announce the polls today. The party has asserted that the MCD unification is nothing more than an excuse for delaying elections. AAP’s Delhi State Convenor and Cabinet Minister Shri Gopal Rai said that the party will announce its plan of action against BJP once the MCD unification bill becomes public. At the same time, Senior AAP Leader and MLA Ms Atishi stated — PM Shri Narendra Modi feels scared of CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal and AAP ever since he saw the Punjab result. BJP claims to be the biggest political party but is running away from a small municipal election. If the trifurcation was causing problems in running MCD why did the BJP not unify it during its 15 year rule. If the Delhi Election Commissioner wasn’t corrupt he wouldn’t have succumbed to BJP’s threats and postponed the elections. Democracy is under threat today; if the BJP senses its defeat in Gujrat will it ask the EC to delay elections saying it wants to merge Gujarat and Maharashtra? AAP Chief Spokesperson and MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj said that Delhiites will vote AAP to power with a thumping majority in MCD to get rid of BJP’s corruption. While, MCD in-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak said that the people of Delhi want to bring the Kejriwal Model to MCD as well.
AAP Senior Leader and MLA Ms Atishi tore apart the BJP’s stance of delaying elections during a press conference and said, “Today, the BJP-led Union Cabinet passed a proposal seeking to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi. The anomaly of this matter is that the BJP has had its government in the MCDs for the last fifteen years but could only think of the unification right when its term was coming to an end. Not once in the last 15 years did the BJP think of reforming its administrations and unifying the MCD. The BJP has seen the tenures of both the unified MCD and its trifurcated divisions. Today, it has been over 7 years since BJP came to power in the Centre, yet it was so blindsided by its wicked intentions that it never expressed a desire to unify the corporation. They only thought of unifying the MCD after seeing the Punjab election exit polls. It was then that they were hit with the shock that Shri Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party is taking the country by a storm and people have started to adopt his clean politics instead of their scam-ridden politics now. They realised they stood no chance in front of the AAP’s wave. On the 9th of March, the BJP started to execute its evil agenda. The State EC had planned a press conference on that day and notified the media saying it will announce election dates during that. To avoid the MCD elections from taking place, the BJP went ahead to throttle the government machinery under it and wrote a letter to the EC asking them not to announce polls as they wanted to unify the MCDs. They stooped so low that they stopped the announcement an hour before it was being made.”
She vouched for a definite AAP win in the next elections and added, “The BJP is so distant from the reality of Delhi and its people that it thinks that unification can actually cause electoral gains. It thinks that by pushing one file, they can make the people of Delhi forget about the corruption and loot in the MCD. It thinks that people will forget how it razed down schools where their children studied. It thinks that people will not see the three humongous mountains of garbage if it unifies the MCD. The BJP has made it clear that even Prime Minister Modi is scared of the revolution CM Kejriwal has brought in Indian politics. Imagine, BJP has over 1,400 MLAs, 301 Lok Sabha MPs, around 100 Rajya Sabha MPs and yet this so-called biggest political party of India is running away from a small MCD election against the AAP. PM Modi is scared that CM Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party will ruthlessly thrash the BJP in the MCD elections like it has in Punjab. Even they know that the AAP is set to win over 250 seats in the MCD and BJP is headed for a clean sweep. The BJP is shielding its fears behind the excuse of unification.”
The MLA drew parallels between the MCD and the Delhi Government and continued, “As far as election announcement and unification is concerned, they are not related at all. There’s no substance behind the forced delays. Unification can take place as and when deemed fit. It is as simple as placing all the councillors and officers under one roof and giving them the tag of a unified corporation. There is no reason but for PM Modi and BJP’s fears of a terrible defeat. Even they know that the people of Delhi have seen how BJP has ransacked the MCD into a sinking ship while the Kejriwal Government gets praises each day. They can see how happy the public is because of the free electricity and water supply, free bus travel for women, free tirth yatra for senior citizens as well as the world class schools, hospitals and mohalla clinics. The Kejriwal Government ensures that every citizen has money in their pockets while the BJP loses no chance to steal from the poorest of the poor.”
She further dissected the BJP’s logic behind the unification and said, “It is completely unconstitutional to delay an election. The last time an election was delayed in this country was when the emergency was imposed upon us. It was when Indira Ji feared a defeat and the BJP is only walking in her footsteps. They can defer the elections for as long as they want, everyone knows the Aam Aadmi Party will definitely win them. But we demand for the elections to be held as planned for the sake of this country’s democracy. This does not in any manner set a good precedent for the country. The Gujarat elections are due in a few months. If the BJP senses defeat, will it ask the EC to postpone the elections because it wants to merge Gujarat and Maharashtra? If they think they’ll lose the Lok Sabha elections, will they ask the EC to not hold elections because they want to introduce a presidential system? What the BJP is upto is a clear threat to our democracy.”
She put forth the Aam Aadmi Party’s demands and concluded, “We demand the Election Commission to hold the MCD elections at the same time they were scheduled. The new MCDs are supposed to be formed by 18th May and if that does not happen then we are looking at a brutal murder of this democracy. We know what pressures the EC is in. We know that the BJP is in possession of a PMO dossier framing the Delhi Election Commissioner for corruption. We know that he has been threatened of being put in jail if he doesn’t comply with the BJP. The ECI is a body that commands a value like no other. There’s a reason that people like T.N Seshan are remembered for how they ran the EC. If they continue to buckle under the pressure of the BJP then this period will be written down in history as the worst for our democracy. This will give BJP a basis to further destroy our democracy and this is something we all must not tolerate.”
AAP Delhi State Convenor and Cabinet Minister Shri Gopal Rai stated, “AAP will announce its plan of action against BJP once the MCD unification bill becomes public. Until all aspects are revealed, I think it is too early to say anything. The BJP had 7 whole years to propose changes, but the haste in which they have tried to defer the MCD elections by proposing integration of the civic bodies goes against the tenets of our democracy. The longer the BJP delays the election, the more likely it is to have a severe defeat against AAP – irrespective of whether there is a single Municipal body in Delhi or three. If the government and those in power are honest, then change and development is possible in any situation.”
At the same time, Chief Spokesperson and MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj issued a statement saying, “The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to unify the three divisions of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. We believe that this exercise could have been done even a few years ago, considering their government has been in power for the past 7-8 years. This exercise could have been carried out at any time even after the conclusion of the municipal elections. With the Municipal Corporation elections on the horizon, this exercise is being carried out solely to delay the elections. The BJP understands that they will suffer a crushing defeat in the elections this time, and this move is being taken solely to delay the elections. They had done a similar thing in 2014, when they postponed the Delhi Assembly elections for a year, from February 2014 to February 2015, due to fear of defeat. Finally, due to the intervention of the Supreme Court, the Central Government was forced to hold elections. The Election Commission, which was under the Central Government’s influence, had no choice but to conduct these elections, and the people of Delhi gave the Aam Aadmi Party 66 out of 70 seats. We feel that dissatisfied with the BJP’s corruption, the people of Delhi have made up their minds once again to clean up the muck of corruption within MCD, to make Delhi beautiful once again, and to make the Aam Aadmi Party win the MCD elections this April with a huge majority.”
AAP MCD In-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak stated, “Elections and unification have nothing to do with one another. The unification can be done at any time but BJP is using the unification as a ploy to avoid holding MCD elections in Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party has been in MCD for 15 years, and in the last 15 years, hardly a single street in Delhi has been cleaned. There are 3 garbage mountains within Delhi. The BJP squandered so much money on corruption that they are unable to pay their employees’ salaries today. The people of Delhi are hoping for a significant change inside the MCD, and if the BJP fails to hold the MCD elections at the appropriate time, it will be a huge insult to the people of Delhi and democracy, not only in Delhi but throughout the country. We only have one demand to the BJP: Come, let’s contest the elections and let the people of Delhi decide who gets to form a government in the MCD. It is common knowledge that if elections are held today, or at any point, an Aam Aadmi Party government, led by Arvind Kejriwal, will be formed in the MCD.”