Days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J.P. Nadda launched party’s campaign for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, its Delhi unit on Tuesday formed a committee to manage poll preparations. The party also announced a slogan for polls: “Seva hi vichar, nahi khokhle prachar (Service is the only thought, not empty promises).”
The civic elections in the Capital are expected to be held before the end of the year, with the BJP likely to go head-to-head with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The BJP, which has been in power in Delhi’s three civic bodies (now unified) for 15 years, is seeking a fourth term.
At a meeting held at the State BJP headquarters here, party’s Delhi in-charge Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, State unit chief Adesh Gupta and general secretary (organisation) Siddharthan announced the election management committee with Ashish Sood as convener.
The party announced the launch of a number of activities, including door-to-door campaigns, filing “chargesheets” against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and regional or linguistic events among others, with special subcommittees formed for each activity. A screening committee was also formed to import leaders from other political parties.
Mr. Sood told The Hindu that the campaign has been “scientifically designed” with 21 subcommittees overall.
“Our aim is to reach out to at least 20-25 lakh households before the elections, tell them about our achievements and how AAP has cheated the people of Delhi,” he said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the party has now started its poll preparations in full swing. “We have about 45 days to prepare, assuming that the elections would take place in the first week of December,” he said.
Mr. Kapoor also said that people from the southern States living in Delhi will also be courted by the BJP. “Earlier only those from Purvanchal [eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar] used to be targeted by parties.”
Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and BJP MLA from Badarpur, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who is also the head of the chargesheet subcommittee, said his team will compile “chargesheets” on all the promises AAP made during the past eight years it has been in power in Delhi and ask the people if they were fulfilled.
“Whether it’s the promise of 11,000 DTC buses, 500 new schools, 20 new colleges, or cleaning the Yamuna by 2020, they [the AAP government] have not fulfilled any of their promises,” he said.
Door-to-door campaign panel head Dinesh Pratap Singh said the party will distribute 20 lakh flags and pamphlets each to inform people about its “works in the corporation and the failures of the AAP government”.
