The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi is facing severe humiliation after surrendering in the mayoral polls held today. AAP Senior Leader and Delhi Minister Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj heavily criticised the BJP’s decision to participate in the election, despite not having enough councillors to support their candidate. The BJP did not even have the support of its own 104 councillors; they ran away from the election in fear of being exposed, he said. He further said that if BJP had to forfeit, it should not have participated in the mayoral election itself.
Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj accused the BJP of trying to buy councillors since the time of nomination of their candidate for the post of mayor, and said that it shows their desperation to win at any cost. On the other hand, Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj expressed his confidence that the work started by AAP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will now gain more momentum. The Aam Aadmi Party has been working towards improving the conditions of the MCD, and the recent victory in the mayoral polls has only strengthened their position. The AAP government has promised to make the MCD corruption-free and improve the living conditions of the residents.
Addressing a press conference, AAP Senior Leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj slammed the BJP for trying to steal the mandate of the residents of Delhi. He said that despite not having the votes from the beginning the BJP tried to illegally get a Mayor of their party, but finally the desire of the residents of Delhi has triumphed once again.
He said that it is in front of all the citizens that when the MCD elections were conducted on 4th December last year, AAP went on to win the majority in it. However, he added that from then until now, the BJP leaders have been going around saying that the Mayor of the MCD will belong to their party. He added that even until yesterday, the BJP leaders were saying that although the majority in the MCD belongs to AAP, the Mayor would be from the BJP. He said that everyone was aware that it was a lie and that the BJP did not have the numbers, but yet they announced a candidate for the post of Mayor a few days ago. He claimed that the senior BJP leaders at the time were going around saying that when the election for the post of Mayor would be held, several AAP councillors would cross-vote for the BJP candidate.
He pointed out that from the actions of the BJP it was clear that they were trying to use illegal tactics to get the support of AAP councillors, and revealed that even in the election held two months ago, they had acted in a similar manner. However, he said that for the BJP candidate to surrender today at the last moment indicates that there is some problem within the party. He said that it was clear that the BJP today was not confident of winning the votes of its own councillors, and it was because of the defeat and the embarrassment that the voting process would cause them, that they decided to surrender to the Aam Aadmi Party.
Pointing out how embarrassing a defeat this was for the BJP, he said that either they should have decided not to contest the election or else should have had the courage to fight it. “On the one hand the BJP decides to fight the election and announces its own candidates, but when it is time for battle, it surrenders. That too they surrendered after going around screaming to the media that their party had the numbers and the Mayor would belong to the BJP. Therefore, I think that today is a day of embarrassment for the entire BJP. Their Delhi unit has not only embarrassed themselves, but gone on to embarrass the national unit of the party,” he said.
Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj also congratulated the residents of Delhi as eventually the party that they had trusted and voted for has got their Mayor and the Deputy Mayor in the MCD. He said that the way the Shri Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Government has been working at the state level, the MCD will now be able to function at the municipal level and it will eventually be the citizens of Delhi who will benefit. “We want to thank the residents of Delhi and want to inform them that the developmental works that have been started in the MCD by Dr Shelly Oberoi will now further gather pace and once the Standing Committee is constituted these works will be completed at the earliest,” he said.
He also congratulated Shri Mukesh Goyal for being announced as the Presiding Officer and said that despite the LG conspiring with the BJP the last time and not allowing him this opportunity, this time there were no such problems. “Shri Mukesh Goyal is an experienced person and even the last time it was his right to be announced as the Presiding Officer. He is a five-time councillor. The last time the LG tried to snatch his right and appoint someone else as the Presiding Officer. But eventually the Supreme Court had to intervene and rap the LG. It was only after the intervention of the court, that the LG had accepted that the senior-most councillor has the right to be nominated as the Presiding Officer,” he said.
