In what can be seen as extending an olive branch, the Aam Aadmi Party government on Wednesday said that they lend ‘full support’ to Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Wednesday announcement surprised many.
On October 2, Mr. Kejriwal had taken potshots at Mr. Modi saying he has witnessed only “showbaazi” and not any real action in the Swachh Bharat campaign over the last one year. “1 yr of swachh bharat. Which streets got cleaned as a result of ‘this campaign’? How much budget spent on it? Time to question symbolism? [sic],” he had then tweeted.
But now, Delhi government will launch a major drive next month to clean up the city of “all garbage and debris” as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Mr. Kejriwal announced the government’s decision while briefing the media after meeting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu at Andhra Bhavan.
“On November 21st and 22nd we are doing a big exercise to clean up Delhi in two days to remove all the garbage and construction material all across Delhi as part of the Swachh Bharat campaign,” the Delhi CM said.
Mr. Kejriwal, who is also a member of NITI Ayog’s Chief Ministers’ Sub-Group on Swachh Bharat Mission, met Mr. Naidu, who is the chairperson of the group. who was in Delhi to submit the group’s report to the Prime Minister.
Mr Naidu has invited the AAP chief for the foundation stone laying ceremony of Andhra Pradesh’s upcoming capital ’Amaravati’ on October 22. The Delhi Chief Minister has accepted the invite. “Today I came to meet him and expressed full support for the Swachh Bharat campaign although due to some preoccupations I could not attend the meetings of the group,” Mr Kejriwal told the media after the meeting.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan aims at making India a clean country by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi. But as per the recent reports, the project hasn’t been able to make much impact on the ground.
