New Delhi: A day after tomorrow, Delhites will franchise their voting rights for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections 2022, where all three major parties -- the Aam Aadmi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Congress -- are campaigning according to their strategy. As BJP claims to return to power for the fourth consecutive time, AAP is confident enough about making its way to the corporation for the first time.
Meanwhile, Congress which seems lagging behind in the race, also puffs up their claims of the public showing confidence in Congress instead of AAP and BJP. So this time it seems that the nature of the contest will be three-cornered rather than a bipolar contest.
Amid all this, ETV Bharat had a conversation with Aam Aadmi Party's national spokesperson and MLA from Kalkaji assembly seat, Atishi Marlena over MCD polls. Here are some extracts of it :
Question: Why does the Aam Aadmi Party feel that Kejriwal's government will be formed in MCD?
Answer: See, Kejriwal is not contesting the MCD elections in Delhi and neither is the Aam Aadmi Party. It is the people of Delhi who are fighting against the corruption by the BJP in MCD in the last 15 years. They had turned Delhi into trash. Following this, Delhiites have made up their mind to throw out BJP from MCD and bring in Kejriwal.
Question: BJP is making allegations over AAP by releasing posters. Will this affect the election?
Answer: Bharatiya Janata Party has a problem. They have done no work in the last 15 years. But they can't admit this in public and can't seek votes over it. So they just want to divert the issue. But the people of Delhi are smart and know which government works and which does not.
Question: Will you score a double century in MCD polls?
Answer: It will be double century plus, AAP will get 230 seats in the MCD polls. And this is not because of our prediction or survey, it's because of the public as they are fed up with the BJP. When you step out of your house, you will see a heap of garbage. Then you get out of your street, you will have a bigger heap of garbage. You reach your locality's market, and the garbage heap gets even bigger. And when you touch the city's outer periphery, you will find a Qutab Minar of garbage. Who wants to live in such filth and stink?
Question: Do you have a plan to dispose of all three garbage mountains?
Answer: Technologies exist for waste management through which these mountains of garbage can be disposed of. When a person enters Delhi, first they witness mountains of garbage. When our flight lands in cities like New York and London, we don't have any such mountains. As per MCD's calculation, it will take them 200 years to dispose of the entire mountain of garbage. The truth is that existing technologies can make it much easier. But BJP has no interest in it, all they are interested in is extortion and filling their pockets.
Question: On which issues are you campaigning among the public?
Answer: There is a problem in Delhi -- half of the things come under the Delhi Government while the other half comes under the MCD. If there is a big road, it will come under the Delhi government; if it's a small one, then MCD. Water and sewer are under the Delhi government, while garbage and drains are under MCD. Because of this, it gets confusing for the common man to understand what comes under whom. As Kejriwal's government will remain in Delhi for a long period of time, it's obvious that work will be done swiftly by the ward member of Kejriwal.
