AAP more corrupt than Congress, says Amit Shah

As political parties gear up for the upcoming municipal polls, BJP chief Amit Shah, riding on the victory wave in five state elections, launched the party's campaign from central Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Saturday. He called upon voters to drive out the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) labelling them as the most corrupt government ever to have ruled the national capital.

"While Congress was known to be a government of scams, there has been no government in Delhi more corrupt than the AAP so far. Its 13 MLAs face criminal charges. There was a scam in procuring water tankers, its DCW chief came into fray for irregularities in appointments and above all AAP has used Delhi exchequer's money for its campaign advertisements in Gujarat, Kolkata and other states," said Shah.

Shah went after AAP, the main opposition for BJP in the upcoming civic polls, but interestingly did not attack the Congress party that has been their main opposition nationally. In Delhi at least, it seems that the BJP is more concerned with the popularity of AAP and doesn't see Congress as a threat. On a scorching Saturday noon, Shah called out to party workers who had started filling up on the ground since morning, to reclaim Delhi from the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu who was also present said, "While there were scams in the Congress governments on a daily basis, AAP is even more corrupt." Naidu also had some advice for the party when he said that it should shift base from Delhi to Goa and Punjab where they were routed in the recent assembly polls.

Thousands of party workers adorning saffron party caps and scarves responded to Shah's call for winning the MCD elections, as the ground reverberated with slogans such as 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Booth Jeeta, Chunav Jeeta'.

"Hum paanch rajyo me chunav jeet kar aaye hai (We have won election in five states). After 2014, BJP has won nearly every election except Delhi and Bihar. We have to make up for Delhi's loss in the municipal elections this time. Our win in the MCD polls will lay the foundation to win the next Delhi Assembly elections," said Shah, as the workers raised BJP flags in affirmation.

The campaign titled 'Panch Parmeshwar' inspired from Premchand's famous story was picked to address booth-level workers for restoring votes for the party. Patriotic songs such as 'Rang de basanti chola' played in the background while people waited for Shah to take the stage.

Pointing to an India map on the screen, he said while the country is being painted in 'saffron', the national capital continues to remain a "blank spot", asking party workers to ensure BJP's victory in the MCD polls.

BJP has been in power in the municipal corporation, which were trifurcated in 2012 — North, South and East — for a decade. However, over the past few years anti-incumbency had grown against its councillors. Delhi has 272 municipal wards.

While it will be a three-way contest with the ruling BJP, Congress in the opposition and AAP in the fray, Shah told the workers to focus on defeating AAP from every seat.

He did not forget to mention that Delhi needs an MCD that doesn't engage itself in fighting with the Centre.

Contrasting the party's performance with AAP and the latter's claim of a 'clean government', Shah said, "Within ten days of Uri attack, we launched a surgical strike against Pakistan. This is how promises are kept. The AAP could not keep a single promise it had made about security of women, opening 500 schools and 20 degree colleges, among many others."

He then urged party workers to not look at the upcoming polls as just an MCD election, but rather as an opportunity to wipe off AAP from the face of Delhi.

Also, Shah reminded them that it was first the Jan Sangh to come to power in the municipality post-independence.

Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, Harshvardhan, Meenakshi Lekhi, Mahesh Girri, Pravesh Verma and Vijay Goel as well as Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and councillors were
present.