Delhi Mayoral poll in ‘game of credit’ marshland
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, February 16: In the next one year, lieutenant governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena may be seen in action on several fronts in the national capital. Saxena has been asked by the Central government to clear Delhi’s eyesores in the next one year.
The eyesores which are being aimed to be eliminated includes the likes of the landfill sites, popularly called garbage mountains, which dot entry points to the national capital from Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) at Ghazipur, Bhalswa on Haryana border and Okhla again with UP border. Also, Saxena has been asked to take the direction of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on cleaning Yamuna, which is seen to be worse than a gutter in the national capital, seriously. Besides, Saxena has to demonstrate that he was instrumental in turnaround on the civic issues.
“The Garbage Mountains will cease to exist in a short span of time, as the National Highway Authority has agreed to use the waste in road making. This will pave way for a faster reduction of the height of the landfill sites and their eventual elimination within a fixed time span. All the landfill sites belong to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Credit for eliminating the eyesores of Delhi will naturally go to the mayor of Delhi,” said a top ranking BJP functionary.
The BJP on the day of the MCD verdict sought to suggest that the party will not contest the mayoral poll. But the party soon got the ‘dread’ that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will beat the BJP in taking credit for development achievements in the national capital even if they were achieved on account of the Central government. “The BJP must have its mayor, because the MCD along with the Delhi Development Authority with the office of the lieutenant governor at the command will be at the forefront of several developmental activities,” added the BJP functionary.
Three bids to hold the mayor poll have been futile. The Supreme Court now has come in the picture. But the men and women of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who have been elected as councillors, are well-versed on ways to scuttle any attempt to dictate terms to them. On paper, the AAP has numbers in the MCD to take the mayor post. But the BJP leaders claim that they too have the numbers to get their members as mayor and standing committee chairman.
It may be known that there is no whip in the election for the MCD mayor. The BJP has denied the AAP mayor post in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for two successive years now.
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