With elections to the municipal corporations due next year, the standoff between the Aam Aadmi Party government and the BJP-ruled civic bodies intensified on Thursday.
While the government called a special session of the Delhi Assembly on Thursday and Friday to discuss the functioning of the corporations, the municipalities hit back with their first-ever joint session since the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was split into three in 2012. The agenda for the civic bodies’ meeting at the Ramlila Maidan was the government’s alleged interference in the corporations’ work.
Though the Assembly session began with AAP MLAs criticising Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung, the legislators spoke about the problems faced by their respective constituencies due to the “inefficiency” of the corporations.
On the other hand, the joint session of the three corporations started off with North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Dr. Sanjeev Nayyar accusing the government of ignoring its own responsibilities. Councillors said the government had withheld funds and was not cooperating on various fronts, including cleaning of drains before the monsoon.
The meeting ended with a resolution condemning Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s government for not fulfilling its 70-point manifesto.
The 2017 elections would be the first time that the AAP will contests a full-fledged civic body polls in Delhi, after having made its debut in the by-polls to 13 wards in May.
A three-way contest is expected as the AAP, the Congress and the BJP, which has ruled the corporations and the erstwhile-MCD since 2007, go head to head.
