The AAP on Friday demanded that the BJP should resign and let it rule the municipal corporations for one year before the civic polls due in 2022 amid an ongoing tussle between the two sides over non-payment of salaries to MCD employees.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, however, accused the AAP of indulging in cheap politics and asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to release the funds owed to the civic bodies.
Addressing a press conference, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Atishi said the citizens of Delhi will then witness and judge the five-year tenure of the BJP versus thee one year tenure of AAP in municipal corporations.
"Despite knowing that the BJP ruled MCDs owe more than Rs 6,000 crore to the Kejriwal government, we have released Rs 938 crores because we do not want MCD employees to suffer any more," said Atishi.
She said the Kejriwal government has given loans to the MCDs several times during the last six years.
"Due to rampant corruption by the BJP, the MCD has no money to pay salaries to their employees. The report card of MCD is corruption in the name of cleaning landfill, collection of house tax or parking tax, failure in sanitation work and in the primary education system," Atishi said.
Addressing a separate press conference, AAP leader and MLA Kuldeep Kumar claimed that due to the "anti-Dalit mindset" of the BJP, it harasses members of the backward community every day and does not even pay their salaries.
The AAP has always supported Dalits, he said.
Fellow AAP leader and MLA Rakhi Birla said the Delhi chief minister too stands with Dalits.
"Delhi CM released this special package of Rs 938 crores because he did not want the poor sanitation workers to suffer anymore... Today, Dalits and people from Valmiki Samaj have made up their mind to throw BJP out of the MCD and elect the AAP," she said.
However, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the AAP government owed Rs 13,000 crore to the three corporations and must release the funds instead of doing politics over it.
On Thursday, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia used derogatory language for MCD leaders while today during the press conference on municipal workers' strike, AAP MLAs Rakhi Birla and Kuldeep Kumar have tried to provoke a particular community, Kapoor said.
Through another press conference by MLA Atishi, the AAP tried to portray as if the Delhi government gave a special grant to MCDs while the truth is that the Rs 938 crore fund given yesterday is less then the dues of MCDs for the current year's third quarter, he said.
The BJP spokesperson said it will be better if the AAP government realises that it owes Rs 13,000 crore to the MCDs as per the third, fourth and fifth Delhi Finance Commission's recommendations.