With the Aam Aadmi Party emerging victorious in the Delhi Municipal Corporation elections for the first time, the capital is set to have a double engine Sarkar after a long gap. The party is in power in the Delhi government and now with the civic body also under its control, Arvind Kejriwal has been given additional responsibility by the electorate to ensure the smooth running of affairs in the city. The last time when the municipal corporation and the Delhi government had one party in power it was between 2002 and 2007 when Sheila Diksit was the Chief Minister and Ram Babu Sharma, the superemo of the MCD. In fact for nearly three years till Congress lost power in 2007 in the civic body, it was a triple engine government here with the Centre after 2004 also being controlled by the Congress led coalition. A bitter feud between Ram Babu Sharma, who wielded enormous power and Shiela Dikshit led to acute factionalism and the Congress lost in 2007 to the BJP. In fact, the reason for the trifurcation of the municipal body subsequently was because Dikshit was scared of a parallel power centre. The municipal body has greater inter-action with the common people since it looks after their needs from the cradle till the crematorium. The Delhi government has a role but not as amplified as that of the Municipal Corporation. Therefore, Kejriwal shall have to ensure that no conflicts happen between the two equally important elected bodies. In this context, it has to be pointed out that the AAP has no experience of the MCD and would have to choose its leaders very carefully in order to administer properly. The BJP may have lost power but it still shall have a large presence in the MCD and would be testing the AAP all the time. The election of the Mayor would be vital and this is where the AAP shall face its first test. The reason for the AAP to win comfortably is because the Congress collapsed completely. In fact, the Congress took these polls very casually and the selection of candidates and the manner in which the campaign was run, was very dismal. The DPCC president Anil Chaudhury who is likely to be replaced in the near future, displayed total lack of fighting spirit. On the polling day, his statement that his name was not in the voter’s list showed how ill-prepared he and the Congress were. It is evident that no one checked the voters’ lists in advance and had it been so such a faux pas would not have occurred. The BJP was hoping that the Congress would do better as that was the only way of stopping the AAP. The reason for the BJP debacle is also clear; they do not have good leadership in the city and the High Command needs to introspect on this. There is speculation that the current BJP state unit may be dissolved and a new president may be installed. This election has also shown that the party’s best performance was in Gautam Gambhir’s parliamentary constituency and he could get a greater role in the organization. However, since AAP has won, Kejriwal and his team need to be congratulated. They should now get down to work as no excuses can be offered any more.
