Delhi State Chief and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) head Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for "postponing" municipal elections, saying that AAP members will quit politics if the BJP gets the polls done on time and wins.
The Delhi Government is headed by the AAP and the civic bodies (the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, or MCDs) by the BJP.
His remarks came after the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Bill to unify the city's three civic bodies - North Delhi Municipal Corporation, East Delhi Municipal Corporation and South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
He added: "The BJP says it is the biggest political party in the world but it got scared by a small party. I dare the BJP for timely MCD polls."
In a series of tweets in Hindi, he described the postponement of the MCD elections by the BJP "an insult to the martyrs who made sacrifices to establish democracy in the country by driving the British out of the country.
"Today they are postponing the elections for the Municipal Corporations of Delhi because they are afraid of defeat. Tomorrow they will postpone the elections of the states and the country,” the AAP chief thundered.
Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal Slams BJP for Delaying MCD Polls
© Photo : Twitter/@ArvindKejriwal
In another tweet, he said: “The BJP has postponed the MCD polls saying that they are unifying the three corporations. Can this be a reason to defer the polls? If they learn that they are losing in Gujarat, will they defer the state assembly polls to say that they are merging Gujarat and Maharashtra? Can Parliamentary elections be postponed using such reasons?”
Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal Questions BJP's Intentions to Defer MCD Polls
© Photo : Twitter/@ArvindKejriwal
He said that although the BJP claims to be the largest political party in the world with 180 million members, it seems ironic that it is so terrified of his own small political party. "I dare the BJP to conduct the MCD polls on time,” he said in his final tweet.
Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal Dares BJP to Conduct MCD Polls on Time
© Photo : Twitter/@ArvindKejriwal
In a blistering attack on the BJP, Kejriwal said that the BJP is shamelessly delaying the MCD elections at the cost of democracy.
While talking to the media in the Delhi state assembly, the state chief said: “To save itself from such a humiliating defeat at the hands of the AAP, the BJP first coerced the state's Election Commission into deferring the MCD polls, and is now bringing an amendment to postpone the elections for several months.”
He said if elections were deferred in this manner then there would be no point to this democracy. "The public will become voiceless. This country will be reduced to a laughing stock. I want to remind the BJP that the basic right of electing a government to power rests with the people of this country and no matter what they do, the people will not forgive them,” he added.
The MCD was split into three civic bodies – the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation – in 2012.
In the last MCD polls, the BJP won 181 seats out of 272 and the AAP bagged 49. The country's main opposition party Congress got only 31 seats. The AAP was contesting the MCD polls for the first time whereas the BJP has been ruling the civic bodies for 15 years.