'BJP terrified of AAP': Sisodia slams PM Modi over MCD bill, calls it 'Stop election bill'

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia targeted the Central Government for introducing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday. While addressing the Delhi assembly on Friday, Delhi's Deputy CM Sisodia alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was 'terrified' of AAP. He further added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'was taking an interest in the MCD functioning'.

Blaming the Modi government at the Centre for delaying the MCD elections, Manish Sisodia alleged that the bill was introduced in the lower house only to halt the MCD election. "The MCD bill introduced in Lok Sabha does not talk about reforms. It was introduced to stop MCD elections, which is a threat to democracy, "Sisodia said in his address to the Delhi assembly. He called the bill the "Stop MCD election bill."

"This is not the MCD reform bill, this is the 'Stop MCD Elections' Bill," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

Sisodia alleged that a big party like the BJP was "terrified" of a small party like AAP. "The world's biggest political party is terrified of a small party like AAP. The bill has been brought in to silence the voices of the people of Delhi," he said. He claimed that people were supporting Kejriwal's AAP in the MCD, which was why the central government introduced the MCD bill in the Lok Sabha. 

"They are getting nervous about the people supporting Kejriwal in MCD. This is the first time happening in the history of the country that a prime minister is taking interest in MCD elections in order to defeat an opposition leader," Manish Sisodia said on Friday.

Sisodia took a jibe at PM Modi and said that Prime Minister "should be more concerned about the stand of India concerning the Ukraine crisis is more concerned about" the tasks regarding municipal corporations of Delhi.

Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022

The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 25, 2022. The Bill aims to amend the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 enacted by Parliament. The Act was amended in 2011 by Delhi Legislative Assembly to trifurcate the former Municipal Corporation of Delhi into (i) North Delhi Municipal Corporation, (ii) South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and (iii) East Delhi Municipal Corporation.  The current which was introduced in Lok Sabha seeks to unify the three corporations.

The bill's goals and reasons claim that it aims to promote greater transparency, better governance, and more effective civic service delivery to the citizens of Delhi. However, it is being said that the bill will directly designate the Centre with the control of MCDs even before the polls. A possibility of delimitation exercise also remains as the bill seeks to confine the MCD seats to 250- from the current 272.

BJP however declined AAP's claim on the MCD bill. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday rebuffed ruling AAP’s claims and alleged that the CM Arvind Kejriwal-led party are ‘habitual liars.’ Joshi said, "They won one more state, but lost 100% deposit everywhere else. They're habitual liars. Bill has been brought to remove discrepancies due to trifurcation of MCD."