The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday charged the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s executive wing with passing the annual budget without informing it.
However, the MCD, in a statement, denied the allegations, saying that the budget is still under consideration and has not yet been passed. The civic body also said that the consideration process would shift to the deliberative wing i.e. the House, after the mayoral elections are conducted.
The Lieutenant-Governor has approved February 6 as the date for reconvening the MCD House, where the mayoral polls are expected to be held. “The corporation will complete the budget exercise latest by February 15,” the statement added.
AAP, with 134 councillors, enjoys a majority in the 250-member House, where it has been hoping to get its own Mayor.
However, more than 50 days after the civic polls, the mayoral elections are yet to take place, with the newly elected House being adjourned twice due to ruckus.
‘BJP betrayed the city’
On Friday, senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj lashed out at the BJP, accusing it of stalling the mayoral elections to “unethically” pass the budget through the “Centre-appointed civic officials”.
“The MCD’s budget is a very important document that gives a detailed breakdown of the amount the elected House hopes to spend. After the budget is passed, the work of dealing with the problems of the city’s residents begins in mission mode. What has happened instead is that the BJP has betrayed the residents of Delhi,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.
Opposition’s response
Reacting to Mr. Bharadwaj’s allegations, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said AAP was embarrassed at having to withdraw its petition, seeking a time-bound conduct of the mayoral polls, from the Supreme Court, after the L-G gave his nod to reconvene the House.
“To divert attention from this embarrassment, AAP started a misinformation campaign about the MCD budget. I feel they will continue this campaign and not allow the elections to take place on February 6,” said Mr. Kapoor. According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, the civic body’s annual budget has to be cleared on or before February 15. In the absence of a Mayor, the Centre-appointed special officer is allowed to pass the budget.
