 "AAP to launch campaign for Delhi civic polls, to strengthen organisation")
Asserting that people want a change at the helm in Delhi municipal corporations, the AAP on Sunday announced that it will launch a massive campaign after Diwali next month to oust the BJP in the 2022 civic body polls.
The party will also start a huge exercise to strengthen its organisational structure in the run-up to the MCD elections, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.
The Delhi BJP hit back, saying that the AAP is free to make claims but the people have seen how the Arvind Kejriwal-led city government failed them during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Centre came to their aid.
The BJP has ruled all three municipal corporations of Delhi -- North, South and East -- for three consecutive terms.
"People want a change this time as the BJP-ruled municipal corporations have completely failed in fulfilling their responsibility," Rai said during a press conference at AAP headquarters here.
There is no respite for the people of Delhi from dirt and garbage under the BJP regime. The MCDs also failed to take preventive steps in time to check the spread of dengue this year, he alleged.
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"To fulfil people's wish for a change, the party will start a much bigger campaign after Diwali. Along with this, a huge exercise will also be carried out to strengthen the party's organisational structure," he added.
Rai claimed that people expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of the BJP-ruled MCDs during 'Mohalla Sabhas' (Colony Meetings) organised by the AAP under its 'Aapka MLA Aapke Dwar' (Your MLA at your doorstep) programme.
As part of the programme, which was launched on September 1 and concluded on October 20, a total of 2,532 'Mohalla Sabhas' were organised across Delhi, he said.
"We heard the grievances of the people and work is on to address them at the government level," he said.
Rai said that there was not a single 'Mohalla Sabha' where people did not raise the issue of dirt and garbage.
He said the AAP is preparing its plan of action for the civic body polls based on the report of 'Mohalla Sabhas'.
The party is also reviewing the performance of the organisation in holding 'Mohalla Sabhas', he said.
It seems that the BJP's farewell from the MCDs will be before the deadline it has set for the complete removal of the mountain of garbage at Delhi's border, the AAP leader said.
Reacting to Rai's comments, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the AAP leader is free to make political claims but only time will tell as to who will win the MCD elections.
"People of Delhi are fed up with the allegation politics of Aam Aadmi Party leaders," he said.
People have seen how the Kejriwal government failed them during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the BJP-led central government not only provided medical aid but also ensured free vaccination for 2 crore people of Delhi, he added.
"In the 2022 civic body elections, people will again vote for the BJP and give the party a fourth consecutive term," Kapoor said in a statement.
On the AAP's plan to strengthen its organisation structure, the BJP leader said that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party doesn't have one to begin with.
"It is just a bunch of manipulators who have won two (assembly) elections by misleading people with freebies. Now the freebies game of the Kejriwal government stands exposed before the people and they also know that MCDs' services get hindered as the Kejriwal government is denying them proper funds," Kapoor said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)