AAP prepares for civic polls with month-long campaign

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will kick-start a campaign aimed at the Delhi municipal polls next year, involving local meetings and door-to-door drives from September 1 to 30 to highlight alleged corruption in the three Bjp-ruled municipal corporations (MCD), and their failure in keeping Delhi clean, the party’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai said.

“The Aam Aadmi Party will launch a mega campaign from 1st September to 30th September to make the MCDS free of garbage and corruption. As part of the campaign, nearly 2,500 meetings will be conducted with local residents under the ‘Aapka Vidhayak Aapke Dwaar’ initiative. AAP MLAS will lead the campaign with full force,” said Rai, also a minister in the Kejriwal cabinet, at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Ward-wise preparation meetings will be held in all 272 wards of Delhi from 25 to 30 August under the ‘Aapka Vidhayak Aapke Dwaar’ initiative. The people of Delhi continuously gave the BJP chance in the MCD, and in return, the BJP councillors gave garbage and corruption to the people,” he added. “With the support of the people, AAP will bring change in the MCD in the same way it brought change to Delhi (government). The BJP got zero seats in the MCD by-polls earlier this year. They will see the same result in the forthcoming MCD elections.”

In bypolls to five municipal wards in February this year, the AAP won four and the Congress got one seat. The BJP drew a blank.

Delhi goes to the municipal polls in March next year.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “Like all political parties, the Aam Aadmi Party is free to run its political agenda before the municipal polls but the truth is that the AAP has no interest in improving civic services, it just wants to grab power in the civic bodies.”

“It is sad that the AAP has chosen to play dirty politics against municipal corporations at a time when Delhi gets inundated for days after short spells of rains, the water supply and sewage services have almost collapsed due to corruption in the jal board... The Delhi government is answerable to the people on charges of corruption in the DTC bus purchase and scams in the jal board. To divert public attention from these serious allegations, the AAP is trying to mislead people by levelling baseless allegations against the municipal corporations,” Kapoor added.

The BJP has been ruling the municipal corporations -- which are often referred to as mini governments -- for four successive terms. The last MCD polls were held in 2017, two years after the AAP won a historic mandate in the Delhi assembly. Political experts have predicted a keen contest this time with the AAP consistently raising civic issues such as sanitation.

Nearly 2,500 meetings will be conducted with residents under ‘Aapka Vidhayak Aapke Dwaar’. AAP MLAS will lead the drive with full force GOPAL RAI, AAP Delhi convener