In an interview with PTI, he also said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) played spoiler in Gujarat, like it did earlier in Goa and Uttarakhand.
Tag: MCD Polls
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AAP says it will do better in Karnataka Assembly polls than in Gujarat
By PTI
BENGALURU: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is scouting for good candidates who can win on their own reputation, and would focus on about 60 constituencies in the Assembly elections in Karnataka just a few months away.
AAP is upbeat after wresting control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from the BJP and the noticeable show in the Gujarat Assembly election, say party leaders in Karnataka.
The party’s state unit Vice-President Bhaskar Rao told PTI here on Friday that the five AAP candidates who emerged victorious in the Gujarat poll were not backed by “money and muscle power”, and they won on their own reputation.
“We would like to pursue that line here (in Karnataka)”, he said. While the party would field “new and good candidates” in all the 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, where the polls are due by May, it would focus on 50 to 60 “winnable” segments.
“We are very optimistic that in Karnataka, we will make a better mark than what we have done in Gujarat”, Rao said, adding that campaigning by AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for Karnataka Assembly polls would definitely boost the party’s “winnability, acceptability and chances”.
ALSO READ | In victory speech, Kejriwal seeks PM’s blessings to run MCD
Karnataka needs a “thoroughly new model”, he said. Congress, BJP and coalition models have been “rejected”, according to him.
“We will concentrate on people (candidates) with good reputation”, added Rao, a former Bengaluru Police Commissioner.
On the contention in some quarters that the AAP had eaten into Congress votes in the recent Assembly elections in Gujarat, he said nobody stopped M Mallikarjun Kharge-led party from consolidating their votes.
He also said: “We are buoyed that Modi magic has not worked in Himachal Pradesh. So, it cannot work here (Karnataka) also”.
BENGALURU: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is scouting for good candidates who can win on their own reputation, and would focus on about 60 constituencies in the Assembly elections in Karnataka just a few months away.
AAP is upbeat after wresting control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from the BJP and the noticeable show in the Gujarat Assembly election, say party leaders in Karnataka.
The party’s state unit Vice-President Bhaskar Rao told PTI here on Friday that the five AAP candidates who emerged victorious in the Gujarat poll were not backed by “money and muscle power”, and they won on their own reputation.
“We would like to pursue that line here (in Karnataka)”, he said. While the party would field “new and good candidates” in all the 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, where the polls are due by May, it would focus on 50 to 60 “winnable” segments.
“We are very optimistic that in Karnataka, we will make a better mark than what we have done in Gujarat”, Rao said, adding that campaigning by AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for Karnataka Assembly polls would definitely boost the party’s “winnability, acceptability and chances”.
ALSO READ | In victory speech, Kejriwal seeks PM’s blessings to run MCD
Karnataka needs a “thoroughly new model”, he said. Congress, BJP and coalition models have been “rejected”, according to him.
“We will concentrate on people (candidates) with good reputation”, added Rao, a former Bengaluru Police Commissioner.
On the contention in some quarters that the AAP had eaten into Congress votes in the recent Assembly elections in Gujarat, he said nobody stopped M Mallikarjun Kharge-led party from consolidating their votes.
He also said: “We are buoyed that Modi magic has not worked in Himachal Pradesh. So, it cannot work here (Karnataka) also”.
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Maha BJP wants AAP to contest BMC polls to ‘eat’ into opponents’ vote banks
Express News Service
MUMBAI: Taking a cue from Gujarat results, BJP’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar said on Thursday that their next immediate opponent in BMC elections will be the AAP. Reacting to the landslide and historic victory of BJP in Gujarat, Mumbai BJP unite president Ashish Shelar on Thursday said that their immediate competitor is AAP.
“The way AAP got the votes and seats in Gujarat election, and victory in Delhi Municipal Corporation elections and efforts in Himachal Pradesh shows that the main opponent of BJP in BMC elections will be AAP only. Other parties in Mumbai have no relevance now,” he said, putting the cat among the pigeons.
The BJP has to fight against Maha Vikas Aghadi mainly against Shiv Sena to wrest the BMC. Sena has been ruling the BMC for last 25 years since 1997. In 2017, BJP gave a tough time to Shiv Sena by winning 83 seats while Shiv Sena had won 87 seats in 227 members BMC.
Sources in BJP said that people may have different opinion over AAP entry, but this is fact with entry and aggressive campaign of APP, the BJP would not have created all historical records. “Congress is always strong in rural Gujarat that BJP tried several times, but could not break that Congress’ OBC, Dalit, Muslim vote block.
But this time, AAP not only helped eat significant votes share of the Congress directly, impacting results of 75 seats in Gujarat and giving direct benefit to BJP. We want to use the same strategy in Mumbai by promoting AAP and MNS to split anti-BJP votes,” a BJP leader said.
MUMBAI: Taking a cue from Gujarat results, BJP’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar said on Thursday that their next immediate opponent in BMC elections will be the AAP. Reacting to the landslide and historic victory of BJP in Gujarat, Mumbai BJP unite president Ashish Shelar on Thursday said that their immediate competitor is AAP.
“The way AAP got the votes and seats in Gujarat election, and victory in Delhi Municipal Corporation elections and efforts in Himachal Pradesh shows that the main opponent of BJP in BMC elections will be AAP only. Other parties in Mumbai have no relevance now,” he said, putting the cat among the pigeons.
The BJP has to fight against Maha Vikas Aghadi mainly against Shiv Sena to wrest the BMC. Sena has been ruling the BMC for last 25 years since 1997. In 2017, BJP gave a tough time to Shiv Sena by winning 83 seats while Shiv Sena had won 87 seats in 227 members BMC.
Sources in BJP said that people may have different opinion over AAP entry, but this is fact with entry and aggressive campaign of APP, the BJP would not have created all historical records. “Congress is always strong in rural Gujarat that BJP tried several times, but could not break that Congress’ OBC, Dalit, Muslim vote block.
But this time, AAP not only helped eat significant votes share of the Congress directly, impacting results of 75 seats in Gujarat and giving direct benefit to BJP. We want to use the same strategy in Mumbai by promoting AAP and MNS to split anti-BJP votes,” a BJP leader said.
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66 per cent of councillors elected to MCD in 41-70 age group, 53 per cent women: Report
Out of the 248 winning candidates analysed, 132 (53 per cent) are women, and one- the AAP's Sultanpuri-A ward councillor Bobi is from the transgender community.
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MCD poll: Feel empowered after voting, say differently-abled voters
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Being wheelchair-bound or walking with crutches was not a deterrent for differently-abled Delhi residents who enthusiastically arrived at the polling booths on Sunday to make their vote count for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election.
Praveen (56), whose family brought him to the booth on a wheelchair, said, “Every vote matters”.
“Everyone should come out and exercise their right. Cleanliness was the main issue on my mind when I cast my vote,” he said.
Hari Om (70) arrived at the polling booth holding crutches.
“There are many issues in our area and I don’t know whether they will be addressed. But I knew I had to ensure that my vote counts,” he said.
Voting for the high-stakes civic poll in Delhi is largely seen as a three-way contest among the AAP, the BJP and the Congress.
Over 1.45 crore electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the election to the 250 MCD wards, the results of which may have ramifications beyond the national capital.
Ramu Yadav (55), who is visually impaired, said he felt empowered casting his vote.
Kamal Kishore, who has been suffering from paralysis for 15 years, reached the polling booth in the morning.
“This is a right given to us by the Constitution and we should exercise it because each vote counts,” he said.
Eight-four-year-old Khulbhushan Gupta , who came on a wheelchair, said he has not missed voting in the last few years.
“I feel strong and confident when I vote. It empowers me and I feel I have done my duty,” he said.
When asked what his priority was, Gupta said, “Of course, development is the key issue. I want my locality to be further developed and equipped with all the facilities it deserves.”
NEW DELHI: Being wheelchair-bound or walking with crutches was not a deterrent for differently-abled Delhi residents who enthusiastically arrived at the polling booths on Sunday to make their vote count for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election.
Praveen (56), whose family brought him to the booth on a wheelchair, said, “Every vote matters”.
“Everyone should come out and exercise their right. Cleanliness was the main issue on my mind when I cast my vote,” he said.
Hari Om (70) arrived at the polling booth holding crutches.
“There are many issues in our area and I don’t know whether they will be addressed. But I knew I had to ensure that my vote counts,” he said.
Voting for the high-stakes civic poll in Delhi is largely seen as a three-way contest among the AAP, the BJP and the Congress.
Over 1.45 crore electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the election to the 250 MCD wards, the results of which may have ramifications beyond the national capital.
Ramu Yadav (55), who is visually impaired, said he felt empowered casting his vote.
Kamal Kishore, who has been suffering from paralysis for 15 years, reached the polling booth in the morning.
“This is a right given to us by the Constitution and we should exercise it because each vote counts,” he said.
Eight-four-year-old Khulbhushan Gupta , who came on a wheelchair, said he has not missed voting in the last few years.
“I feel strong and confident when I vote. It empowers me and I feel I have done my duty,” he said.
When asked what his priority was, Gupta said, “Of course, development is the key issue. I want my locality to be further developed and equipped with all the facilities it deserves.”
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MCD polls: Waterlogging, poor roads in mind as voters in Delhi’s rural areas turn up in large numbers
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Grappling with issues such as waterlogging, poor roads and lack of education facilities, people in the rural areas of Delhi’s Rohini and Badli turned up in large numbers on Sunday to vote in the Delhi municipal elections.
Waiting in a long queue outside a polling booth in Rohini sector 18, 86-year-old Shanti Devi told PTI that better drainage facilities and roads are needed in her locality.
“The main point is corruption should be rooted in the MCD. We need better facilities here. There are problems pertaining to potable water, broken roads and clogged drains. MCD officials often come and dig up the roads around without even thinking about the issues faced by residents because of this,” she alleged.
Somesh Puri, who also lives in the same area, said residents have to face knee-deep water on the roads every monsoon.
He also claimed that water supplied to households is often unfit for consumption.
“Residents cannot step out of their houses during the monsoon because of water-logged roads. The drains remain clogged throughout the year and the sewage water spills onto the roads during the rainy season. The water that we get in our household is contaminated and unfit for consumption,” the 60-year-old said.
Slum dwellers in Delhi are a major segment of voters and can decide the fate of candidates in many wards.
While the BJP has promised to provide them proper houses with help from the Centre if voted to power again, the AAP has been able to create a strong support base in these areas, as evidenced by its back-to-back victories in the assembly polls.
Shahbad Daulatpur village resident Neelu Kumari Bharti, 35, said drains overflow and houses get inundated during the monsoons.
“We are forced to move to some relative’s place for two-three days every monsoon because of water-logging at our houses. Drains remain clogged and overflow every time it rains. We approached the civic authorities with complaints multiple times but all in vain. They neglect the slum areas,” she told PTI.
Another resident of Shahbad Daulatpur village, Lata said cleanliness is a major issue in the slum areas there.
There is garbage mismanagement in the slum clusters and lack of proper schools.
“Even the roads are broken. We complained multiple times about these issues to the civic authorities but no one takes our complaints seriously. Our children should also get better education facilities in the schools here,” she added.
NEW DELHI: Grappling with issues such as waterlogging, poor roads and lack of education facilities, people in the rural areas of Delhi’s Rohini and Badli turned up in large numbers on Sunday to vote in the Delhi municipal elections.
Waiting in a long queue outside a polling booth in Rohini sector 18, 86-year-old Shanti Devi told PTI that better drainage facilities and roads are needed in her locality.
“The main point is corruption should be rooted in the MCD. We need better facilities here. There are problems pertaining to potable water, broken roads and clogged drains. MCD officials often come and dig up the roads around without even thinking about the issues faced by residents because of this,” she alleged.
Somesh Puri, who also lives in the same area, said residents have to face knee-deep water on the roads every monsoon.
He also claimed that water supplied to households is often unfit for consumption.
“Residents cannot step out of their houses during the monsoon because of water-logged roads. The drains remain clogged throughout the year and the sewage water spills onto the roads during the rainy season. The water that we get in our household is contaminated and unfit for consumption,” the 60-year-old said.
Slum dwellers in Delhi are a major segment of voters and can decide the fate of candidates in many wards.
While the BJP has promised to provide them proper houses with help from the Centre if voted to power again, the AAP has been able to create a strong support base in these areas, as evidenced by its back-to-back victories in the assembly polls.
Shahbad Daulatpur village resident Neelu Kumari Bharti, 35, said drains overflow and houses get inundated during the monsoons.
“We are forced to move to some relative’s place for two-three days every monsoon because of water-logging at our houses. Drains remain clogged and overflow every time it rains. We approached the civic authorities with complaints multiple times but all in vain. They neglect the slum areas,” she told PTI.
Another resident of Shahbad Daulatpur village, Lata said cleanliness is a major issue in the slum areas there.
There is garbage mismanagement in the slum clusters and lack of proper schools.
“Even the roads are broken. We complained multiple times about these issues to the civic authorities but no one takes our complaints seriously. Our children should also get better education facilities in the schools here,” she added.
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Vote for making Delhi clean, beautiful city: CM Kejriwal
In another tweet, he asked people to vote for an honest party and decent people and not those who indulge in corruption, hooliganism and abuse.
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Assam CM Himanta emerges as BJP’s poster boy for election campaigns
By PTI
GUWAHATI: The BJP’s most prominent face from the North East, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has emerged as the party’s new poster boy for election campaigning, capturing eyeballs as its first-star campaigner from the region in faraway Gujarat and Delhi.
Be it the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, imposition of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), PFI ban, Ram Janmabhoomi temple issue, communal angle to the recent killing of a girl by her live-in partner or the attack on Congress and his bete noire Rahul Gandhi, Sarma has left no stone unturned to push forward assertively the right-wing party’s key agenda in poll-bound Gujarat where the BJP has ruled for the last 27 years, barring a brief period of President’s Rule.
Sarma, in the eyes of his supporters, of course, comes with the right credentials for the role.
The passing of the Cattle Protection Act, calling for specific policy measures for slowing down minority population growth, closing down of government Madrasas and turning them into general schools, demolition of madrasas following arrest of teachers with alleged terror links, sealing of the ‘Miya’ (Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam) musuem, among others has brought him to the fore of polarisation politics, according to experts.
The Chief Minister, however, during his campaign trail has hit back with questions like “does an Owaisi (Asaduddin Owaisi) alone have the right to polarisation. Do the Hindus not have the right to assert their glorious cultural and civilisational heritage? It is the media who term this as polarisation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strived hard to restore our pride in ‘Sanatan Dharma’ which is the soul of our nation”.
He has also dismissed the title of ‘star campaigner’ stating he is “no star but just an ordinary ‘karyakarta’ (worker) of the party and Gujarat leaders also go to Assam during elections”.
Campaigning in Gujarat twice within a week, Sarma has focussed his attack on his erstwhile party – the Congress which he left in 2015 to join the BJP, and particularly on Rahul Gandhi who he alleged was more interested in feeding biscuits to his dog than in solving party’s problems.
In each of his campaign, either in Gujarat or Delhi, he has attacked the Congress for following ”politics of appeasement” for the benefit of a particular community and even went on to refer to Gandhi resembling Saddam Hussain due to the beard he has kept during the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar, when asked about Sarma’s continuous attack on the Congress and Rahul, said that he has to ”please his masters for his political survival.
The BJP resorts to polarisation politics at a time when the youth and people are talking about unemployment and price rise”.
Political analyst Paresh Malakar pointed out that he highlights issues core to BJP’s communal agenda but added that the comments may also be construed as ”irresponsible”.
“Apart from the communal angle, Sarma is trying to mislead and provoke,”, Malakar, also the General Secretary of civil society group Assam Nagarik Sabha, told PTI.
Political analyst Chandan Sarma of Dibrugarh University claimed that it is well-documented that Sarma has been behind the success of BJP in the North East and that his stature is increasing in the national arena, too, as he ”boldly articulates the core BJP agenda on various issues”.
Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan told PTI that even after being in power for so many years in Gujarat, “The BJP is not talking about development but engaged in communal polarization. Sarma can go to any extent to instigate people.”
Assam Pradesh Congress President Bhupen Bora however told PTI that Sarma has been taken to Gujarat not to give speeches but for fund management.
“The BJP government in the state has looted funds which the party is using for election purpose,” Bora alleged.
The BJP, however, refutes these allegations with its Rajya Sabha MP Pabitra Margherita asserting the campaigning task recognises Sarma’s ability “to connect with people’s pulse, his practical and viable commitments and its timely implementation which has been noticed not only in the region but also in the rest of the country”.
Besides, BJP encourages and empowers “new generation politicians and gives space to young leaders working for the nation’s development along with preserving ideological ethos,” Margherita said.
GUWAHATI: The BJP’s most prominent face from the North East, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has emerged as the party’s new poster boy for election campaigning, capturing eyeballs as its first-star campaigner from the region in faraway Gujarat and Delhi.
Be it the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, imposition of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), PFI ban, Ram Janmabhoomi temple issue, communal angle to the recent killing of a girl by her live-in partner or the attack on Congress and his bete noire Rahul Gandhi, Sarma has left no stone unturned to push forward assertively the right-wing party’s key agenda in poll-bound Gujarat where the BJP has ruled for the last 27 years, barring a brief period of President’s Rule.
Sarma, in the eyes of his supporters, of course, comes with the right credentials for the role.
The passing of the Cattle Protection Act, calling for specific policy measures for slowing down minority population growth, closing down of government Madrasas and turning them into general schools, demolition of madrasas following arrest of teachers with alleged terror links, sealing of the ‘Miya’ (Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam) musuem, among others has brought him to the fore of polarisation politics, according to experts.
The Chief Minister, however, during his campaign trail has hit back with questions like “does an Owaisi (Asaduddin Owaisi) alone have the right to polarisation. Do the Hindus not have the right to assert their glorious cultural and civilisational heritage? It is the media who term this as polarisation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strived hard to restore our pride in ‘Sanatan Dharma’ which is the soul of our nation”.
He has also dismissed the title of ‘star campaigner’ stating he is “no star but just an ordinary ‘karyakarta’ (worker) of the party and Gujarat leaders also go to Assam during elections”.
Campaigning in Gujarat twice within a week, Sarma has focussed his attack on his erstwhile party – the Congress which he left in 2015 to join the BJP, and particularly on Rahul Gandhi who he alleged was more interested in feeding biscuits to his dog than in solving party’s problems.
In each of his campaign, either in Gujarat or Delhi, he has attacked the Congress for following ”politics of appeasement” for the benefit of a particular community and even went on to refer to Gandhi resembling Saddam Hussain due to the beard he has kept during the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar, when asked about Sarma’s continuous attack on the Congress and Rahul, said that he has to ”please his masters for his political survival.
The BJP resorts to polarisation politics at a time when the youth and people are talking about unemployment and price rise”.
Political analyst Paresh Malakar pointed out that he highlights issues core to BJP’s communal agenda but added that the comments may also be construed as ”irresponsible”.
“Apart from the communal angle, Sarma is trying to mislead and provoke,”, Malakar, also the General Secretary of civil society group Assam Nagarik Sabha, told PTI.
Political analyst Chandan Sarma of Dibrugarh University claimed that it is well-documented that Sarma has been behind the success of BJP in the North East and that his stature is increasing in the national arena, too, as he ”boldly articulates the core BJP agenda on various issues”.
Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan told PTI that even after being in power for so many years in Gujarat, “The BJP is not talking about development but engaged in communal polarization. Sarma can go to any extent to instigate people.”
Assam Pradesh Congress President Bhupen Bora however told PTI that Sarma has been taken to Gujarat not to give speeches but for fund management.
“The BJP government in the state has looted funds which the party is using for election purpose,” Bora alleged.
The BJP, however, refutes these allegations with its Rajya Sabha MP Pabitra Margherita asserting the campaigning task recognises Sarma’s ability “to connect with people’s pulse, his practical and viable commitments and its timely implementation which has been noticed not only in the region but also in the rest of the country”.
Besides, BJP encourages and empowers “new generation politicians and gives space to young leaders working for the nation’s development along with preserving ideological ethos,” Margherita said.
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MCD polls will be fought on garbage issue, will clean Delhi in 5 years if AAP wins: Kejriwal
He also alleged that the BJP “gobbled up Rs 2 lakh crore” during their 15-year rule in the civic bodies.
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We will leave politics if BJP gets MCD polls held timely and wins it: Kejriwal
“The BJP says it is the biggest political party in the world but it got scared by a small party and a small election. I dare the BJP for timely MCD polls,” he said.