AAP to gherao BJP headquarters tomorrow against ‘delay’ in Delhi civic polls

New Delhi: The AAP will on Monday stage a protest against the BJP for allegedly forcing the State Election Commission to “defer” the conduct of municipal polls in the national capital, the party said.

Upping the ante over the issue, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party on Sunday alleged that the poll panel was scheduled to announce the dates for the election to three municipal corporations but deferred it after it was “threatened and blackmailed” by the ruling BJP.

“Election was supposed to be held this month but they (BJP) threatened and blackmailed the SEC and got the elections deferred. The BJP feels that it can do anything in Delhi and nobody would say anything to them,” AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said in a video message.

“Tomorrow at 10 am, the Aam Aadmi Party workers and the people of Delhi will assemble at our party office and then move to gherao the BJP headquarters against their (BJP) dictatorship and to demand the conduct of MCD (municipal corporations) elections,” he said.

The AAP will prepare its strategy for a “big fight” against the BJP’s “dictatorship”, he added. Pathak, who is a member of the AAP’s political affairs committee, alleged that the BJP has “completely destroyed” the Delhi municipal corporations during its 15-year regime, so much so that the civic bodies do not have funds even to pay the salaries of its employees.

He also hit out at the BJP on the issue of cleanliness in the city, alleging that the civic body under the saffron party has kept “the entire Delhi dirty”. “Don’t run away, let the elections be held. The people of Delhi will decide (the poll outcome),” he said in his message to the BJP.

The AAP has been up in arms against the BJP since the Delhi State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava at a press conference called to announce the dates for the civic polls last week, dropped a surprise, saying he was “not able to announce” the schedule “right now” as he had received “some communication” from the central government about half and an hour before the meet with journalists.

The party had on Saturday alleged that the BJP government at the Centre is “blackmailing” Srivastava into keeping on hold the announcement of schedules for civic polls for an “indefinite period” fearing the saffron party’s “miserable defeat” in the election, if conducted.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the municipal elections in the national capital, saying postponing polls weakens the democratic system.

He had also asked Srivastava to not ”buckle under pressure” and tell the world whether he was being ”threatened or lured”.