"Water, power shortage? Crime? Rubbish!"

His entire speech was punctuated with interruptions. The CM said the situation had improved, there was a voice in the audience that said it had not. The CM said highlight our achievements, a couple of councillors said the power situation in their colonies was taking an ugly turn.

“A copy of our achievements should be circulated to every house, informing the people about the work we have done,” the CM said. “Talk only about the positive things we have done. On the streets there should be no cribbing.”

Accordingly, he talked about the increase in the number of water tankers in the city and the various projects initiated by them. The real issues concerning the people were mentioned in passing and the stress was on wooing the voter. A contradiction in terms many thought.

It is easier said than done whispered councillors who spent a considerable time discussing the agitating residents in their locality. “My house was stoned last night,” says a councillor from the trans-yamuna area. “The residents are really upset and things are getting a little out of hand.”

There was also talk of a conspiracy by the opposition. “This sudden spurt in robberies and murders is planned,” says a member. “Everything seems to be targeted at the elections and painting our government in a bad picture. These gangs operating in the city have definitely been brought from outside.”

The leaders sitting on the dias, including Kushabhai Thakre, Pramod Mahajan and Mange Ram Garg, wanted the discussion to move on. They were busy trying to drill the urgency of the looming elections into their councillors’ head. “All inauguration work and other pending jobs have to be completed by October 10,” said Venkiah Naidu, National general secretary of the BJP. “Before the Election Commission ban comes into affect, all activities must be completed and cases where there are problems should be brought to the notice of the central command and they will be looked into.”

Sahib Singh also rattled off a list of projects that would be completed before the elections. The MLAs nodded in agreement, but the councillors still wanted to discuss water, power and drains. The interruptions and objections were dealt with a firm “we will look into the issue”. Once the pep talk had been given, the CM spared two minutes for the water, power and crime situation. “There is no shortage of water in the city,” the CM said. “The problem is with the supply and distribution network. We need to look at that aspect.” On the power situation he said, “The need of the hour is to check the illegal connections in the industries, not from the unauthorised colonies.”