Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will do “whatever it takes” to ensure that the civic polls are held in the city.
‘Scared of polls’
“The BJP is terrified of contesting elections against AAP. They have deferred the MCD elections fearing defeat. We know the BJP will not let the MCD elections take place. We will have to take up this matter in the court of law,” Mr. Kejriwal said during a discussion in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday.
He also accused the BJP-led Union government of causing administrative delays to “create problems” for the Delhi government.
“I was invited to Singapore to explain the ‘Delhi model’ to the world but these people have thrown my file into some lost corner. I think this is the first instance in the country when the Prime Minister is himself placing hurdles in clearing a foreign trip of a Chief Minister,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
While commenting on the incidents of violence in Udaipur and Jammu, the Chief Minister said, “Until now, we have known the BJP to be a party of gangsters, thugs and liars. But now, terrorists also seem to have been added to their ranks.”
Mr. Kejriwal said the BJP was issuing threats to convert Delhi into “a full Union Territory”.
Censure motion
The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday also passed a censure motion against a letter issued by the BJP-ruled Centre to the Delhi government seeking permission to demolish 53 temples in the city.
In a related development, Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Assembly Rakhi Birla said the Services Department was refusing to answer questions, put up by the MLAs on the matter of vacancies and appointments, under the garb of “a Central government order”.
Terming it “an insult” to the MLAs and the institution of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, Ms. Birla announced the formation of a three-member committee consisting of three MLAs — Rajesh Gupta, Somnath Bharti and Atishi — to prepare and submit a report on the matter within two days.
‘Baseless allegations’
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that the Delhi government was “scared to discuss the problems of the people” in the ongoing monsoon session. He added that the censure motion had been moved on “baseless allegations”.
“The AAP government is running away from discussing the basic problems of the people,” the LoP said.
He added, “The Opposition wants to discuss electricity, water, public transport, unemployment and corruption in Delhi, but the AAP has no answer to these problems, so it is wasting the time of the House on baseless allegations.”
“It is a stain on the AAP government that in the name of redevelopment of Chandni Chowk, an ancient Hanuman temple has been demolished. The government should apologise for it,” Mr. Bidhuri said.
