One party should rule MCDs, State, Centre: BJP's Javadekar on Delhi election

In the fight to repossess the reins of Delhi and reclaim its lost prestige in the city that hasn’t been humble for the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1998, the party at the Centre is banking on Prime Minister Modi's charisma and the development poll plank.

Ahead of the February 8 elections in the national capital, BJP’s Delhi election in-charge Prakash Javadekar said he is positive that his party would win, that too, with a full majority.

Refusing to reveal much about the poll strategy, the senior leader confirmed that development will continue to be their magic word.

Sanguine that the development agenda of the BJP government at the Centre and the “remarkable” promises made to work done ratio would turn around the fate of the party in Delhi, Javadekar said: “The BJP’s main plank is the work done by the central government. The election is about good governance versus misgovernance and nationalism versus anarchy. The Modi government at the national level has taken many historic decisions. All (central) ministries have done tremendous work for Delhi than what the Delhi government has done for the city.”

Taking this thought forward, he added that the party would appeal to the electorate to consider the benefits of triple engine governance, with the same party ruling the municipal corporations, the state, and the Centre.

According to a Hindustan Times report, he battled out reports on the poor performance of civic bodies in Delhi claiming that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party took credit for the work done by BJP-led MCDs.

To elucidate, Javadekar pointed out that though AAP was applauded for curbing dengue, all the fumigation work and constant monitoring was done by the civic bodies.

He further alleged that all the three corporations of Delhi performed poorly in the Swachh Survekshan ratings because the party ruling the state has held back a sum of Rs 10,000 crore that it owes the MCDs. The fund crunch affected civic governance, he added.

Speaking about how this year’s election will be remarkably different from the one fought in 2015, the BJP leader said, last time the people of Delhi saw a revolutionary in Kejriwal. He had vowed to not even enjoy basic emoluments guaranteed to the chief minister.

Javadekar added: “He had claimed to provide clean governance and bring Jan Lokpal. But the exact opposite happened. There are charge sheets against their ministers and MLAs. There is rampant corruption and there is no talk of Jan Lokpal. Modi ji has already brought Lokpal and appointed it. So, we are walking the talk and people understand it.”

“We will get a full majority. People will vote for us based on the work done by the PM Modi and the experience they have had with the AAP government. Our main plank will be development,” he said in conclusion.