After mopping up AAP in the civic elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party that is in power at the Centre is chalking out strategies to strengthen the city's municipal bodies while sidestepping the Delhi government.

The top BJP leadership has indicated that the Aam Aadmi Party administration could be kept out of the loop while transferring central funds to the corporations in a bid to avoid a confrontation between the two outfits that are bitter rivals.

In an exclusive interview to Mail Today, BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said on Wednesday that decentralisation of power at different levels of governance in Delhi could actually benefit the local bodies.

His remarks came hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rode on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity to retain three civic bodies in the Capital for the third time in a row, burying AAP and the Congress under a landslide.

"There is ample room for greater disbursement of central funds to the civic bodies. For smooth functioning of the MCDs, the central government and the BJP leadership should consider devolution of power. This would ultimately reduce confrontation between the state and the Centre," Sahasrabuddhe told Mail Today.

The development comes months after a crisis in waste disposal in the city became another battleground for the local and central government. The MCD sanitation staff stopped work over unpaid salaries but the AAP administration refused to release money, contending that the BJP-run municipal bodies were allocated plenty of funds. The Delhi high court later directed the government to pay up.

VOTERS HAVE RESPONDED TO AAP

Sahasrabuddhe, who supervised his party's spectacular win as its Delhi unit incharge, cited the district boards (zila parishads) that receive central allocations directly without interference of the state governments. He alleged that the AAP government in Delhi made disbursement of MCD funds a major tool to propel its "politics of obstructionism", but ultimately it was the people of the city who bore the brunt of it. "Voters have given a befitting reply. Delhiites have seen through this negative tactics of the Kejriwal government," he said.

WHAT'S ON BJP'S AGENDA

Improving the financial health of the three MCDs is a key concern of the BJP leadership, which has also promised a crackdown on corruption in the civic bodies. Elated over his first major electoral victory as Delhi BJP president, Manoj Tiwari said the "corrupt departments" in the municipalities will be overhauled.

"The building department of the MCDs will be revamped. All engineers and officers posted for more than three years will be transferred. All complaints will be dealt with seriously," Tiwari said, and promised a garbage and mosquito-free Delhi in four months.

Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu too blamed the AAP government for the sanitation crisis in Delhi. The BJP leader promised all possible help from the Centre to strengthen the local bodies. "Our endeavour has been to ensure that the three governments - the Centre, the state government and the local bodies work in tandem. But the AAP government tried to stop the municipal bodies, led by the BJP, from performing by not releasing funds. The Narendra Modi government will extend any help to strengthen the local bodies," Naidu said.

Supporting the financially ailing MCDs is the top priority of the BJP, Tiwari said. "Sanitation services took a major hit due to confrontation by the Delhi government. We are hopeful of finding a solution; we will seek to discuss and sort out the differences with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal," he added.

Tiwari confessed that the BJP's 10 years of rule in the MCDs were not up to the mark and there was ample scope for improvement. "Fielding new faces in the MCD polls was aimed at giving opportunity to the young brigade. This does not mean that the sitting councillors were corrupt or non-performers. We are constantly striving to work," he said.

The BJP was buoyed ahead of the polls by a stunning win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections last month.

"With the massive victory, the BJP has an equally big responsibility to fulfil the aspirations of the people. I want to assure the people of Delhi that we will work for their happiness," said Tiwari, who is also a popular Bhojpuri actor and singer.

The BJP leader, who reached out to voters by visiting slums, unauthorised colonies and rural parts of the Capital in the run-up to the MCD polls, said he will again go to all these places to reinforce his bond with the people.

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