By IANS,
New Delhi : Congress leaders Wednesday blamed the “failures” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the poor development in the constituencies they are contesting from.
“In my constituency, have you seen how dirty it is? It is all because of the BJP’s failures at the municipal corporation. They have not done their job properly!,” Jagdish Tytler, the Congress Party’s contender for the northeast Delhi parliamentary seat, told reporters at a press conference here.
“Ironically, they tried to pass the buck on to the Congress-led Delhi government in the assembly elections, (and) despite that we came back. This time too the public will see the BJP’s failures,” said Tytler, whose earlier constituency Delhi Sadar ceased to exist after new delimitation exercise.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who is contesting from the Chandni Chowk seat, also lashed out at the MCD.
“Where is Vijender Gupta? What has he done?” asked Sibal, targeting the MCD’s standing committee chairman, the BJP’s contender from the Chandni Chowk seat.
Sibal said the country had seen what the Congress-led government did in the last five years and people would vote accordingly.
Asked if the MCD’s office in the same area would give an advantage to Gupta, Sibal said: “It’s not Chandni Chowk’s government, it is the people’s government at the centre that will be formed. It is thanks to the Congress government that any development has occurred in the region in the first place.”
Sibal was referring to the Jama Masjid redevelopment plan and the revamp of roads connecting the Old Delhi region.
However, the Congress duo yielded that just using the BJP’s inept functioning at the corporation as a campaign issue would not be enough.
Tytler, who was one of the main accused in the 1984 Sikh riots case, stressed that the Sikh vote would not be a hurdle for him.
“The Sikh vote has never been a problem. They have never voted against me – there is no question of the 1984 riots and the allegations against me,” said Tytler, who is fighting for the northeast Delhi seat against the BJP’s B.L. Sharma Prem, a Sikh and a two-time parliamentarian.
“I have been around the longest in parliament from Delhi!…This will not tarnish my image – I can guarantee that every effort will be made to ensure development in my constituency,” he added.