NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP for delaying the civic polls and challenged BJP to announce the polls on the day.AAP leaders asserted that the municipal corporation unification is nothing more than an excuse for delaying elections.
Senior AAP Leader and MLA Atishi said, “PM Narendra Modi feels scared of CM 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 the corporation, why did the BJP not unify it during its 15-year rule?”
Meanwhile, drawing parallels between the municipal corporation and the Delhi Government Atishi said, “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.”
She further dissected the BJP’s logic behind the unification. “The last time an election was delayed in this country was when the emergency was imposed upon us. It was when Indira Ji feared defeat and the BJP is only walking in her footsteps,” she said.
Meanwhile, the municipal corporation in-charge Durgesh Pathak said that this is just a tactic to delay the elections by six months to one year. “If this bill is passed, then also nothing will change in particular and we will still win with a huge majority,” he said.
He also said that the party will soon launch a door-to-door campaign and will give a referendum to the people of Delhi in order to press the centre to allow the civic polls to be held.
AAP’s Delhi State Convenor and Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai said that the party will announce its plan of action against BJP once the corporation unification bill becomes public. The BJP should “give up” its efforts to keep municipal elections on hold as it would not change its fate, he said.