With the battle lines drawn for elections to the three municipal corporations, the three major players—the Congress, BJP and the AAP—are busy formulating their winning strategies. While the dominant BJP, which has to fight an anti-incumbency, is caught in a bitter war for funds with the AAP-ruled state government, the Congress is upbeat after its bypoll victory last year. The byelections held in 13 seats in May 2016, which were seen as a mini corporation election, saw the Grand Old Party wrest four seats from the BJP. The AAP won five in its debut and the BJP, which leads the three MCDs (South, North and East), won in seven places. Here is where the parties stand today.
BJP
The saffron party, which is defending its position, is targetting the jhuggi-jhopri population. State BJP president Manoj Tiwari is planning to wean the crucial vote bank from AAP which had gone with the party in 2015. In the last one month, Tiwari has visited six JJ clusters, spent nights with them. Around 12 more such visits are planned in the run-up to the elections.
The BJP, which is considering AAP as its main opponent, has launched investigations into the performance of the Arvind Kejriwal government. “We are just doing a ground reality check about the work that the government claims to have done. People feel that they have been cheated by Kejriwal as he has moved on to other states for the greed of power,” said Ravinder Gupta, general secretary, Delhi BJP and former Mayor, North MCD.
According to Delhi BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju, the party will go to the people exposing the "false promises" of the government. "It has done nothing on women security or empowerment. Marshals in buses, women cabs, CCTV network to give women a sense of security continue to be a distant dream. Kejriwal has also denied participation to women in his government and party leadership,” Jaju said.
Congress
The Grand Old Party’s grand offensive is loud and clear: 10 years of BJP’s ‘misrule’ and two years of ‘misrule’ by the AAP which is running the Delhi government.
To give a shot in the Congress arm, party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is expected to address a rally at the Ramlila ground next month. The Congress is looking at government staff, the population in slum clusters, small-time vendors, who have issues with no clear process of licensing and are subjected to harassment. They account for around 35 lakh population.
“We will change the face of MCD within two years; its fiscal health is in a bad shape. It is a matter of great shame that the corporations do not have funds to pay salaries. AAP has money to increase the salaries of MLAs but won’t spend money here. They want to fly first class but do not look at the situation in schools. Similarly, BJP does not have any clear road map about how to get more funds, even when they have the government at the Centre; this shows the interest that they have,” said Ajay Maken, state Congress chief.
Taking a pot shot at Manoj Tiwari, NDMC Opposition Leader Mukesh Goel said just by singing Bhojpuri songs, things will not change. People are seeing the corruption and mismanagement. Appropriate answer will be given.
AAP
For the AAP, the Centre’s demonetisation drive has found its weapon. The party headed by Arvind Kejriwal would focus its campaign on the negative impact of the scheme. For the first time, AAP would contest elections in all 272 wards. Currently, it has six councillors.
“The ghost of the note ban is back to haunt people. Cash crunch is back and ATMs are empty. Modiji misled
Parliament and the nation. The question that we will pose is that 100 days have passed since demonetisation, which has claimed over 100 lives, but how much black money has been unearthed?” Dilip Pandey, convenor.
The party’s focus is on the JJ clusters. The Poorvanchali voters, which constitute around 30 lakh of the total population, are the new turf of fight with BJP and AAP both pushing for better arrangements at ghats during the Chhat Puja. BJP is looking to wrestle back those voters with the appointment of popular Bhojpuri figure Manoj Tiwari.
“BJP and Congress have made promises that cannot be fulfilled. BJP keeps blaming us for non-payment of salaries but the real issue is corruption that has made the corporations hollow,” said Rakesh Kumar, North MCD Councillor.
The AAP has formed a screening committee to shortlist candidates. First screening will be done at the constituency level.