Co-operate with us, we’ll fulfil Swachh dream: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Toning down his rhetoric, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday told PM Narendra Modi in a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office that he was willing to “fulfil dream” of Swachh Bharat, Skill India and Digital India in Delhi but co-operation from the Centre was needed in governing the national capital. Shifting his focus of attack, Kejriwal this time hit out at ACB Chief Mukesh Kumar Meena and Delhi Police for being “at war with the Delhi government”.

“We told the Prime Minister that, you co-operate with us and we will fulfil your dream of Swachh Bharat. I promise that if you co-operate with the Delhi government, within two years, we will clean up Delhi,” Kejriwal told reporters after the meeting.

The chief minister said he told Prime Minister that differing “political ideologies” of BJP and AAP should not act as a “roadblock” in development of Delhi and the local government is committed to implementing the “PM’s dream”.

Explaining how it was in mutual interest, Kejriwal said, the Prime Minister frequently travels to foreign countries and sees cleanliness but when foreign presidents visit Delhi, they “witness such dirt”. “So we said, we will clean up Delhi and it will be you who gets the credit. The foreign presidents will say, Delhi has been cleaned up ever since Modi became PM, he said.

He added, “You want Skill India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat, we will implement them in Delhi. But it is necessary that our political ideologies should not become hurdles. Highlighting the “hurdles”, Kejriwal said in the past six months, ever since the AAP government came to power in Delhi, “there are 25-30 orders passed by elected Delhi government which has been rendered null and void by the Centre”.

Alleging that the Delhi Police was “at war with Delhi government”, Kejriwal cited the instance of strikes by doctors and transporters where he claimed the Delhi Police had acted in a manner to ensure the strikes were prolonged and not stopped.

Asked how Prime Minister Modi reacted to his appeals, Kejriwal said Modi has told him that he will look into his concerns.