‘BJP will trounce AAP in MCD polls and the next Assembly election’: Nadda to party workers

Raising the Delhi excise policy issue, Nadda said, “The AAP has become a party of scams. It has broken all records of corruption set by the Congress. It needs to be packed off lock, stock and barrel. Chief Minister Kejriwal had said he would enforce prohibition in Delhi if his party came to power, but he opened liquor shops in every neighbourhood after the AAP formed its government in Delhi.”

He further said that there are no principals in 745 schools run by the Delhi government, while 70% of such schools do not teach science and commerce to students. “We fail to understand how you will make poor children into doctors. Spreading lies and giving false figures to people has become your nature, Kejriwal ji,” he said.

The ground was filled to capacity with thousands of BJP workers, including Panch Parmeshwars – five booth workers each from over 13,000 booths in Delhi – former councillors, mandal presidents and senior leaders including six BJP MPs in attendance.

Seeing the strength of the workers, Nadda said, “Other political parties are afraid of holding rallies at Ramlila Maidan due to its sheer size. But even a workers’ conference of the BJP is enough to fill the ground. The BJP is the only party in the country that has a mass base.”

Nadda said the trifurcation of the MCD had led to a shortage of funds, but the Delhi BJP kept working tirelessly and the civic bodies have now been unified.

Apart from Nadda, Delhi BJP MPs including Manoj Tiwari, Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma and Gautam Gambhir also spoke about the MCD polls and asked workers to reach out to people to ensure the party’s victory – hinting that the occasion was also to blow the election bugle.

Verma, the West Delhi MP, said, “You gave us all seven seats and because of you, we have been winning elections. Now, you have to ensure we win all seats in the coming MCD elections under the leadership of (state) party president Adesh Gupta.”

East Delhi MP Gambhir added, “Now is the time to fight, fight for truth. We want to make Delhi swachh and not hand it over to those engaged in false promises. In the coming elections if we fight together, then no one can defeat us.”

Former state president and MP Tiwari said, “Last time, from the same stage, Home Minister Amit Shah gave us a mantra and with the power of karyakartas, we went on to win more than 180 seats in the MCD. Last time, after the Panch Parmeshwar programme, we won two out of three polls – MCD and Lok Sabha. This time, we will win all three polls.”

Several workers said the rally was a clear indication that the BJP leadership has planned to go to polls. “Nadda ji has given the mantra… we will be going to every household to tell people about the liquor scam,” said former deputy mayor Subhash Badana.

Former media department in-charge Neelkant Bakshi added, “The message is clear, there are corruption cases coming one after the other. Now it is the duty of the cadre to ensure that the message reaches the common people. BJP is a party of karyakartas and this strength will ensure the party’s win in the MCD polls.”

Senior leaders said after the rally, workers will begin poll preparations. “The reason why you saw a large number of people was also because every district president and mandal president wants to show their strength at this time when they know polls could be announced any day,” said a BJP leader.

Hitting out at Nadda, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said: “He should drop his gimmicks and present a report card of BJP’s 15-year-long MCD tenure.”

The MCD has been run by the BJP for three consecutive terms now and anti-incumbency is high, even as the AAP is close on its heels.

The polls, originally scheduled for April, were put off hours before the election schedule was to be announced as the Centre wanted to unify the civic bodies from three to one and also conduct delimitation to decrease the number of wards.

A committee formed for delimitation of municipal wards is likely to complete the exercise by the end of this month, following which the Union Home Ministry can issue a notification for the elections to 250 wards of the MCD, officials said. If the exercise goes as per schedule, then Delhi can see corporation polls in December.