Opposition trying to sabotage essential services, says Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: With opinion polls suggesting that the BJP is on course to retain power in the civic elections, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has gone on the offensive and claimed that the saffron party and Congress workers were sabotaging essential services to bring disrepute to the AAP government. He alleged that the Opposition party workers were stealing oil from transformers to disrupt electricity and were running away with water taps and throwing cement blocks in sewerage pipes to clog them. He accused the BJP of trying to cover up its corruption in corporations by projecting the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the civic polls. He also said that his government’s relationship with L-G Anil Baijal had declined since the announcement of the civic polls.

Launching a stinging attack on the BJP, which has been ruling the three municipal corporations in the city for the last ten years, Mr Kejriwal said that the party had become synonymous with chikhungunya, malaria, dengue and garbage and the people of Delhi would be risking their children’s lives if they voted for the party in the April 23 MCD polls.

“If you vote for the BJP and if your child falls prey to chikungunya or dengue, you are responsible for it. I can offer free treatment to your child in (the Delhi government) hospitals, but what led to him contracting dengue. If someone in your home falls ill then you are responsible because you voted for the party which is synonymous to chikhungunya, malaria, dengue and garbage,” he said in a stinging attack on the BJP as the city goes to the polls on Sunday. The BJP is in power in the three municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs) since 2007.

Making a fervent appeal to vote for an “honest Aam Aadmi Party”, the chief minister said his party will clean Delhi in a year and eradicate vector-borne diseases in the next three years. He said that the Congress is “dead” in Delhi and at the national level, and voting for them would mean “wasting your vote.”

Mr Kejriwal also alleged that with just two days left for the MCD polls, the BJP and the Congress are resorting to the “cheap politics” by engineering the water and power shortages. “The BJP and the Congress are stealing oil from the power transformers and ensuring that there is power shortage. They are doing it deliberately and resorting to cheap politics by disrupting water and power supply,” he alleged.

“Your fight is with me, so do not harm the people of Delhi,” he said, adding that such acts will continue till Sunday, the polling day.

Over 56,000 police and paramilitary personnel will be deployed to ensure that the upcoming city civic polls are conducted without any glitches.

Dependra Pathak, chief spokesperson, Delhi police and special commissioner of police (Operations) said a total of 774 premises and 4,748 booths in the city are sensitive and hypersensitive.

There are adequate and full security arrangements in all facets, including anti-terror measures by Delhi police, he said. There are 13,022 booths in total and various Delhi police units, paramilitary, CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) personnel will be deployed to ensure that no untoward incidents take place, said the officer.

“As many as 56,256 personnel will be deployed for the elections,” said the officer.