Sounding the poll bugle for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls, Chief Minister, Arvind Kerjriwal chose to return to his 'roots' and address residents of Uttam Nagar's, Nawada area, showcasing his government's report card and asking them to "clean Delhi with a broom."
"Two years ago, when they (Congress and BJP), laughed at me and said that I would bankrupt the government with my policies, I decided to address the people of Nawada in this very ground and promised you to halve the price of electricity and bring free water to your homes. I can now say with pride that we have achieved those targets within months in office. Now, I come here to tell you that I am here to clean Delhi within months and I need your support for the MCD elections," said Kejriwal.
The Chief Minister addressed the large gathering, after his government completed setting up the sewerage lines in Uttam Nagar.
Local MLA Naresh Balyan said that not only did the government complete setting up the sewerage line, it also saved an additional Rs 60 crore.
Kejriwal used the achievements of his government to launch scathing attacks on the BJP and Congress, and to drive home the point that his party wanted complete control of MCD for the benefit of Delhi.
"They say that I fight a lot. I want to tell them, that I fight for the citizens of Delhi. During Sheila Dikshit's time, her government was hand in gloves with various private electricity companies, who would pay BJP and Congress and everyone was happy. Now that the CAG report has come out exposing scams in the electricity sector to the tune Rs 8,000 crore, they (Congress party) have sent in their best lawyers – Chidambaram, Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. But I am not afraid," Kejriwal said.
After briefly touching on his tussle between the Lieutenant Governor and the Centre, Kejriwal talked about how the world was watching the development of Delhi.
He pointed out how the Mohalla clinic experiment was now studied by various researchers in foreign countries and how he sent in teachers to Harvard to learn from the best.
Flanked by Water Minister, Kapil Mishra, the CM promised to bring clean water that one could drink from a tap in their homes.
"We have implemented this in Malviya Nagar. They now have clean water that they can drink from their tap. Now we will implement this from Malviya Nagar to Uttam Nagar, just like it happens in Paris, London and US," said Mishra.
While the crowd cheered and raised slogans supporting AAP, Kejriwal interjected as his mood became sombre.
"I feel very sad. People complain that I am the Chief Minister and I haven't cleaned Delhi. This is the responsibility of the MCD which has been governed by the BJP and Congress. This time we won't even give the BJP the three seats. We will take them all and I will shine Delhi and turn it into London."
Exuding confidence ahead of the municipal polls, Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday said the people of Delhi were eager to vote them to power to "cleanse" the city and "corruption-ridden" civic administration.
"The BJP-ruled MCD has allowed the city to become filthy by failing in its sanitation job. And seeing our work in the last two years, people now feel that if we win the civic polls, it will clean the city and the corruption in MCD," said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, on the sidelines of the inauguration of a pilot project for "24x7 drinking water supply through taps" in Navjivan Vihar area in posh south Delhi.
The party is making its debut in the high-stakes elections to the MCD, which has been ruled by BJP for the last decade.
The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in 2012 into North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. While north MCD and SDMC have 104 seats each, EDMC has 64 seats.