Make a BJP candidate win from your locality ‘even by mistake’ and all work will stop there because they will be busy fighting with us, claimed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in his first public meeting ahead of the upcoming municipal polls. Kejriwal conducted a ‘jan samvad’ in Paharganj on Sunday morning. In his address, he said he is confident that the Aam Aadmi Party would gain control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and that “it’s just a question of how many seats”. “There’s going to be an AAP government in the MCD. It’s just a question of how many seats… We want 230 out of 250. We have got the Delhi government, we are going to form the MCD government. So we will work for Delhi. If you, even by mistake, make a BJP candidate win from your locality, all work will stop there. Because they will fight with us, do dharnas against me… Do you want this for the next five years? You want work to be done? Toh upar bhi humaari sarkaar hai, neeche bhi humaari sarkaar hai. Kaam toh Kejriwal hi karega,” he said, adding “Don’t vote for those who stop work, vote for those who work.” Trying to deal with the jurisdictions of multiple agencies in Delhi, Kejriwal spent considerable time underlining that sanitation and garbage collection are responsibilities of the MCD, not of the Delhi government. “Several people have a misunderstanding. I talk to many people, they tell me Kejriwal ji, you have fixed electricity, schools, hospitals, you have made mohalla clinics. Why don’t you fix the garbage problem? I tell them that it makes be very sad too. I go around Delhi, there’s so much filth, there are heaps of garbage. I tell them that the responsibility to clean garbage in Delhi is not mine. Has everyone understood? Clearing garbage is which party’s responsibility? BJP or AAP? AAP can only clear garbage if everyone comes together this time and gives a chance to the Aam Aadmi Party,” he said. Similar to MLA Atishi’s claim last month that the MCD has planned to set up a new landfill site at Govindpuri, Kejriwal alleged that one such landfill is being planned in the Paharganj area as well. “They are planning to start a new mountain of garbage here on Basant Road. All the garbage in Karol Bagh will be collected and dropped in Basant Road, and within a year this will become a mountain of garbage. It will start stinking, there will be mosquitoes and flies, and the air that comes from that causes cancer. Do you want a garbage mountain in your area? If you vote for them, within one year there will be a garbage mountain. I guarantee that I will not let it happen,” he said. During the jan samvad, the AAP also announced that former Congress MP from West Delhi Mahabal Mishra has joined the party. Mishra, who has also been MCD councillor and a three-time MLA, joined Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on stage. Through the course of the public meeting, anganwadi workers and helpers, who had been terminated from their services after their strike earlier this year, raised slogans against the AAP. The Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union had resolved to boycott both the AAP and the BJP in the municipal polls to press their demand for the terminated workers to be reinstated.
