MCD passes budget as parties fail to form a government

New Delhi, Feb 04: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday alleged that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) budget was passed by the civic body without keeping the ruling party in the loop. Ahead of the mayoral election scheduled to be held on February 6, the AAP has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of disrespecting people and the constitutional mandate.

 

 

 

The AAP alleged the Central government has made the MCD officers pass the civic body budget and cited examples of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

 

 

 

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that they learned through newspaper reports that the budget had been passed by the MCD and since this was the objective, the elections of the mayor and deputy mayor were deliberately delayed. "It is a dangerous trend. The AAP, which came to power in the MCD, was not informed that the budget has been passed by the officers. This is wrongdoing," he was quoted by PTI as saying. The party has demanded that the budget must be withdrawn. "The AAP has always kept the promises made in its manifesto. The budget is prepared by them and the job will be ours to work according to it. This is wrong," he said. However, the MCD has said it will make a presentation before the special officer on Wednesday regarding the budget proposals for 2023-24. It informed that the budget has not been passed yet and the same is still under consideration. The consideration process will shift to the deliberative wing and once the Mayor is elected, the Corporation will complete the budget exercise latest by 15th February 2023, as statutorily mandated under the DMC Act, 1957. Reacting to the AAP's allegation, BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, "We have constantly said that AAP is a lie churning machine and from this morning after withdrawing their mayor election-related petition from Supreme Court, the AAP leaders have been running a misinformation campaign on MCD Budget. The BJP Spokesperson has said that AAP leaders have been alleging that municipal officials have passed the MCD budget, while the truth is that neither the officials have yet passed the budget nor are they in any hurry to pass it. "Actually, the withdrawal of the mayor election-related petition from the Supreme Court was a big public embarrassment for the AAP leaders and to divert public attention from the embarrassment, the AAP leaders started a misinformation campaign on the MCD budget issue," Praveen Shankar Kapoor said.

 

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"Now they will continue propagating this issue and will not allow the Mayor election to take place even on February 6," he added. The AAP won 134 wards in the MCD polls in December, while the BJP won 104 wards. The mayoral election is the first item on the agenda for the municipal House slated to be held on February 6 in Delhi. It will be followed by the election of the deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee of the MCD. The election of mayor and deputy mayor was stalled twice last month following a ruckus among AAP and BJP councilors in the MCD House.