Graft, garbage, pollution key issues in MCD polls

Corruption, cleanliness and pollution” are the main issues that the BJP, the AAP and the Congress are raking up to take on each other as the fight for the upcoming MCD elections in Delhi intensifies with each passing day.

If the BJP and the Congress are showcasing the alleged involvement of the AAP in cases of corruption and the prevalent pollution, then the latter is pointing to the mountains of garbage in the landfill sites to accuse the BJP of messing up the national Capital’s cleanliness. All these slanging match is happening even as the three are making claims and counterclaims of either having implemented infrastructural development works or pointing a finger to the lack of it.

Interestingly, the Congress is bringing back the memories of work done by former Chief Minister late Sheila Dikshit into the people’s mind to seek power in the civic body.

“The AAP has not built a school, flyover, hospital, or a college. Instead, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has turned Delhi into a ‘Gas Chamber’. Despite his Government in Punjab, the cases of stubble burning increased due to which the Delhities are facing hardships in breathing,” Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, told The Pioneer.

Over the remarks of the AAP on garbage mismanagement, Bidhuri said that the three landfill sites indicate that under the leadership of the BJP, the MCD has done its work effectively and collected the garbage from each household on a daily basis.

“Kejriwal claims to clean Delhi if his Government gets elected in the MCD. Likewise, he promised to clean the Yamuna in the 2015 Assembly polls, but till date the river has not been cleaned, then how will he clean the city,” he asked.

Bidhuri also asserted that the anti-incumbency factor will not work against the BJP. On the contrary, he claimed, it will work against the AAP as it’s been eight years since it assumed power in the Capital and has not fulfilled the promises made to win the polls. AAP has broken the faith of the Delhiites by making false promises, he charged.

Former leader of Opposition in MCD and AAP leader, Prem Chauhan, said his party’s agenda will be highlighting the garbage mountains created by the BJP ruled-civic body in the city. “The people of Delhi are frustrated with the three landfills sited created by the Corporation and want the AAP to run the Corporation as they trust the Kejriwal government. They know if anyone will able to clean the city, it’s the AAP.”

“We will win more than 200 seats in the civic polls,” claimed Chauhan saying that they are working on the ground and seeing the anger among the citizens regarding the work done by the BJP in MCD in the past 15 years.

AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said that the party will conduct Jansamvad at all 13,682 booths of Delhi from November 8 to November 20. It has appointed more than 600 spokespersons for the dialogue and who have been given training for outreach.

The Congress too is making a bid to emerge as a powerful contender in the polls by targeting both the AAP and the BJP. Delhi Congress president, Anil Kumar, said that the party’s agenda will be pollution in the city, corruption in the MCD, garbage mismanagement, health infrastructure failure during Covid-19 pandemic, 16 lakh ration cards pending, unemployment and lack of basic amenities to the slums in the Capital.

Kumar challenged Kejriwal to resign from the post of Chief Minister and choose any ward in Delhi to contest election against him. “Let the people decide who they want in Delhi,” he asserted. Citing the new full form of the MCD as “Meri Chamakti Delhi”, Kumar said the Congress wants to make the corporation free from corruption, rid the Capital of the garbage mountains and want to make the capital “Sheila Dikshit Ki Delhi” again when development scaled new heights.