Union Minister Smriti Irani Friday hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his comments appealing to the Prime Minister not to defer the civic polls in Delhi as it would be a “threat to democracy”. Irani said the Delhi government had deprived municipal bodies of Rs 13,000 crore as funds and asked that they be released immediately.
“Today the nation was bemused to see a press interaction by the Delhi Chief Minister. As Indians we should take umbrage in the fact that he chose to attack the (State) Election Commission and the electoral process that has been hailed across the world as fair and transparent,” Irani said at a press conference.
“What bemused karyakartas of the Bharatiya Janata Party was the fact that Mr Kejriwal claimed that his party had a decisive impact in the election results that the country yesterday saw. Today, the question that begets Mr Kejriwal is this – the Aam Aadmi Party received less votes than NOTA in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In Uttarakhand, the Aam Aadmi Party lost its deposit in 55 seats out of 70. In Goa, the Aam Aadmi Party was reduced to a vote share of just six percent. So a leader who loses four state elections claims that he is the harbinger of change. But what was he the harbinger of in the national capital?” she said.
The attack comes a day after AAP’s landslide win in the Punjab elections.
Irani alleged that in Delhi for the past seven years, “Kejriwal himself had stopped the funds for sanitation workers”. “Under Mr Kejriwal’s leadership, money that is meant for development of villages, development that is to be taken up by the municipal corporations has been stopped. Jhuggi Jhopdi clusters in Delhi are in want, in need of support from the civic bodies but he chooses to starve the corporation of funds,” she said.
“He goes to such depths that he even stops fund flow for maintenance of parks in the national capital. Those roads that help connect poor communities, the funds for the same have been stopped by Arvind Kejriwal. Similarly community centres, where citizens belonging to all castes, creeds and religions congregate for small celebrations like the wedding of a poor daughter – money for those has been stopped,” Irani said.
She also posed certain questions to Kejriwal over the issue.
“Today the question, most humbly, that I’d like to post to Mr Kejriwal, is that was he aware that municipal bodies of Delhi have sought reforms last year itself? Is he against reforms in local government bodies? And my appeal to him is this – can you please give the Rs 13,000 crore that you owe to the civic bodies in the national capital. Mr Kejriwal waxed eloquent about how he’s the saviour of democracy. I would like to tell him that by starving the municipal corporation of funds, he is killing democracy at its very grassroots,” she said.
Irani’s press conference drew a sharp reaction from Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who also held one in the evening. “I want to say three things to Smriti Irani. First, stop crying like Congressis and run the municipal corporations with courage for the remaining time. Stop crying, saying, ‘Haaye re, mar gaye re, Kejriwal ne paise nahi diye.’ You haven’t worked for 15 years while holding the corporations and you all have done so much corruption, that’s where the money has gone?”
“Second, go around Delhi and see how the MCD has kept Delhi so dirty. If you have courage, contest, it will be a big thing if people give you even 10 seats… If you think your party can win, contest the elections,” he said.
“Third, today the country should know what exactly is the threat that the BJP and central government have issued against the EC. Is it the threat of the ED, or the CBI? Tell the country what threat you have given the EC that they did not announce the dates when they had scheduled a press conference for it.”