MCD elections: BJP to target Arvind Kejriwal, AAP 'inefficiencies'

NEW DELHI: As the BJP braces itself for the municipal elections in Delhi, the party’s poll campaign will be directed against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and what it terms the “inefficiencies” of the Aam Aadmi Party government in the capital.

The party will highlight how the Delhi government cold shouldered several central policies, particularly in the urban development space, to further the political agenda of the AAP, senior BJP leaders said. The BJP is learnt to be preparing a dossier of sort to show such “deliberate” attempts by the AAP.

This will be in line, sources said, with BJP chief Amit Shah’s poll strategy to discredit the AAP and promote the initiatives of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. Shah was in the capital last week and held meetings with Delhi leaders, cadre and union ministers to chalk out the strategy for the April 22 municipal seen as crucial for the BJP to establish its supremacy over the AAP in the city-state.


While both the Delhi government and the Centre have been at loggerheads over authority and governance power in the capital, BJP leaders claim that several urban development initiatives including construction of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, laying of sewage pipelines in unauthrosied colonies, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and housing are languishing on the policy table, essentially due to the deadlock between the two governments.

“The policies of the urban development ministry that were ignored by the AAP government is a glaring example of AAP’s politics,” said BJP national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.

“We have proof of how the AAP deliberately chose to not act upon policies drafted by the urban development ministry for the development of the capital and will release it in the days to come,” Sahasrabuddhe, who is part of the core leadership overseeing the MCD elections, told ET. The party is also looking at highlighting corruption within the AAP by releasing “chargesheets” against the Delhi government, on matters such as money spent on publicity campaigns.