New Delhi: Relegated to the political margins within the nationwide capital, the Congress is making an attempt to regain misplaced floor within the upcoming Municipal Company of Delhi (MCD) elections. Elections for the MCD are scheduled to be held on 3 December and the Congress has lined up leaders from throughout states to marketing campaign for the occasion.
The record, accessed by ThePrint, consists of Rajasthan chief Sachin Pilot, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Uttar Pradesh MLA Aradhana Misra, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and former Jawaharlal Nehru College College students’ Union president, common scholar chief Kanhaiya Kumar.
Congress common secretary Ajay Maken and Arvinder Singh Beautiful, who was previously the chief of the occasion’s Delhi unit, will even be campaigning, as will Dr. Ajoy Kumar, who has changed Shaktisinh Gohil because the occasion’s in-charge in Delhi, because the latter is busy with the Gujarat elections scheduled for subsequent month.
The Congress loved a powerful maintain on the nationwide capital’s municipal physique until 2007, however its seat share has been dwindling since.
It was the Congress authorities in Delhi, underneath former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, which had trifurcated the MCD in 2012, into the North Delhi Municipal Company (NDMC), the South Delhi Municipal Company (SDMC) and the East Delhi Municipal Company (EDMC). The three had been re-unified by the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering authorities (BJP) on the Centre earlier this 12 months.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dikshit’s son and former MP, Sandeep Dikshit stated that the MCD underneath the Congress handled the Delhi authorities run by his mom as an “opposition authorities”. Sandeep can be one of many occasion’s star campaigners for the approaching polls.
“When Mrs. Dikshit was the chief minister and the Congress management was in command of the MCD, your entire Congress management in MCD was towards her. So, it was nearly like an opposition authorities. In actual fact, she (Sheila Dikshit) bought extra help when the MCD was run by the BJP. She bought work performed by means of officers. She bought work performed by means of her skill to get individuals on board,” stated Sandeep.
He added: “Within the seven-eight years (between 2007 and 2013) that the BJP was operating the MCD along with her as Chief Minister, there was by no means a giant situation. I bear in mind, there can be a (BJP-led MCD) delegation outdoors the CM’s home, they’d protest, there can be loads of hullabaloos, however as soon as they had been inside, we’d all have a pleasant assembly and the MCD would get what they need. She didn’t play politics when it got here to governance points”, stated Dixit.
In distinction, he claimed, present Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, “solely does politics”.
The Congress was in energy on the former MCD until 2007, having received the 2002 and 1997 polls handsomely. Nevertheless, after 2007, the occasion’s seat share began shrinking, ostensibly because of the in-fighting between the Sheila Dikshit authorities (with CM Sheila Dikshit at its helm) and the Congress management within the MCD, serving to the BJP to realize floor and win the 2007 MCD polls.
Although by no means confirmed, it’s broadly believed that it was this rift between the Dikshit authorities and the MCD (regardless of occasion color) which led the previous chief minister to usher in two modifications in MCD laws. The primary was limiting mayoral phrases to a interval of 1 12 months and the second, the trifurcation, allegedly to make sure that her management over administration within the nationwide capital was not challenged.
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Shedding relevance
In 2007, the Congress received 69 seats of 272 within the MCD. In 2012, after the MCD was trifurcated into three separate our bodies, it received 77 seats of 272 throughout the three municipalities. Within the subsequent election in 2017, its tally got here down to simply 31.
For the previous 15 years, the occasion has been relegated to the sidelines.
The battle this 12 months appears to be pitched between the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Social gathering, with the Congress being seen as a “bit participant”. A lot so, that the BJP has not even bothered to incorporate the Congress in its marketing campaign track for the polls, the place it squarely targets the AAP.
The Congress in the meantime, is making an attempt to make an impression with its star campaigners. On Sunday, the occasion additionally launched an inventory of 250 candidates for the upcoming polls.
Chatting with ThePrint, Ajoy Kumar stated that the record of star campaigners consists of leaders with native join and that the occasion might be preventing the polls on native points.
“The others are individuals who have Delhi join or have hung out in Delhi. For instance, Bhupinder Hooda is a frontrunner from Haryana, however individuals in Delhi know him nicely. Sachin, equally, has hung out in Delhi. Individuals need to see these faces. The nationwide leaders who’re campaigning have both lived in Delhi or have been politically accountable in Delhi sooner or later,” stated Kumar.
He added: “We are attempting to get the entire spectrum of Congress leaders, from all social segments and all religions, as a result of that’s what Congress is. We additionally need to give a pan-India perspective to the elections. Our opponents preserve saying ‘double engine’ (a reference to the phrase utilized by the BJP for states the place it’s in energy along with on the Centre) however we’ve got to struggle on native points.”
“We’re preventing malaria, chikungunya, dengue, probably the most corrupt division on this planet and likewise a polluted occasion who’ve made Delhi probably the most polluted metropolis in the entire world,” Kumar additional stated.
The MCD energy play
Speaking concerning the MCD trifurcation in 2011, Sandeep stated the Delhi authorities on the time felt that the MCD was turning into a “behemoth”, on account of which it was unable to carry out its duties successfully.
“Mrs. (Sheila) Dikshit had shaped a committee which consisted of a former chief secretary and another senior individuals to try reforms that the MCD required. They opined that the MCD was turning into a behemoth and was very troublesome to deal with. The MCD is one thing that appears into individuals’s homes, so how can one physique management your entire space like a authorities?” stated Sandeep.
He added: “They (the committee) initially got here up with the thought of the MCD being break up up into 5 separate our bodies, not three. There was additionally an elaborate plan to facilitate cross-financing and sharing of individuals and different kinds of assets. It will be like 5 district governments in a single state. Sadly, on account of politics and different issues, the ultimate resolution was to go along with three our bodies.”
The previous MP blamed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Social gathering in Delhi for the alleged destruction of resource-sharing and lack of long-term dedication to the MCD on a part of the state.
“He handled the MCDs like a step-child. He ought to have stepped in and ensured that each one three municipal organisations have satisfactory money. Mrs Dikshit’s concept was based mostly on the sensibility of sharing of assets, the federal government had proposed a typical useful resource pool for all three entities. That might by no means occur. An concept that was good in creation was destroyed by the truth that its most constructive components by no means turned a part of the applied concept.”
Requested concerning the Congress’ declined significance in Delhi’s city native authorities, Sandeep stated the shift within the fortunes of the occasion began in 2012-13, within the final years of the Congress-led UPA 2 authorities on the Centre.
“There was the entire anti-corruption motion, 4G, 3G, Commonwealth, Nirbhaya and many others. which had been points towards the UPA-led Union authorities, but additionally bought mirrored on the Delhi authorities, each being of the identical occasion. So, we suffered a double whammy and the notion concerning the occasion got here down all the way in which to the bottom,” he stated.
Sandeep additionally contended that when this notion was being created, the Congress — each on the Centre and in Delhi — didn’t do sufficient to publicise its work. Dikshit’s tenure as CM led to 2013.
“We hadn’t learnt on the time that the media could possibly be used to mould public notion. Mrs. Dikshit all the time used to say that she’s constructed Delhi until 2028. Plenty of what AAP talks about now, be it healthcare, schooling and even environmental measures, had been instituted by the Congress lengthy again. I’d blame my era of leaders for not efficiently relaying that message to the general public”, he stated..
Sandeep added: “My very own understanding is that Congress has to enter this election with a singular, constructive agenda. There are two-three very essential points like corruption over development and the truth that the MCD has not been capable of carry out even small duties like protecting areas clear, protecting encroachments away and never permitting pointless visitors jams. I believe our agenda ought to present a really clear different to those points.”
Taking up the double-engine bid by each the BJP and the AAP (centre-MCD vs state-MCD) he stated that there’s “solely a lot politics” that the MCD can do towards the Delhi authorities.
“Delhi authorities can maintain again funds, Delhi authorities can maintain again permissions, Delhi authorities is the massive brother. The issue with Kejriwal is that he performs politics on the whole lot. On this case, he’ll play politics once more if BJP wins the MCD elections, however it makes no distinction. It’s important to give them cash from the MCD funds. You in the end have to offer them the permissions that they need. If authorities and MCD work collectively, clearly issues occur quicker. However to say that they’ll solely work if the occasion is in energy each in authorities and in MCD is just blackmail,” stated Sandeep.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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