New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Congress and other opposition parties on Wednesday vehemently opposed in Lok Sabha the bill that seeks to reunify three municipal corporations in Delhi, dubbing the move as an attempt to regain control of the national capital where the AAP had grown in strength over the years.
The opposition leaders questioned the timing of the Bill, saying it came just before the announcement of the elections to the Delhi municipal corporations, in which the BJP fears losing to the AAP.
Initiating the discussion on the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, Congress member Manish Tewari said the Centre’s merger plans came to light when the Election Commission had called a press conference to announce elections for the three municipal corporations.
“The manner in which the Election Commission was asked to put off the elections also raises questions about the autonomy of such constitutional institutions,” Tewari said.
He also said the legislative competence to amend the law with regard to the civic corporation rests with the Delhi Legislative Assembly and not Parliament.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Mahua Moitra questioned the timing of the decision to merge the three corporations.
She contended that it came at a time when the Delhi government had moved the Supreme Court seeking expeditious municipal polls in the national capital, alleging brazen influence and flagrant meddling by the central government in election matters.
“When the elections were supposed to be happening in April 2022, what was the urgency or necessity to do it in such a fashion? This is a kind of a semi-emergency. You are bringing in a rule where you are saying that the elections are not going to happen,” DMK member Veeraswamy Kalanidhi said.
BJP member Parvesh Sahib Singh said the Centre was forced to bring this bill as the Delhi government had failed to pay the financial dues to the municipal corporations, which had pushed them into an emergency.
He also rubbished the opposition claims that the BJP was scared of defeat at the hands of the AAP in the municipal elections.
“We were not scared of them (AAP) in 2017, why should we be scared today? Just because they feel that they can win a few seats here after their victory in Punjab elections? If elections are held four months later, they know that they will not get any seats at their party will be exposed in Punjab,” Singh said.
Criticising the move, TMC member Saugata Roy said Home Minister Amit Shah wants to control “everything” and described him as a “control freak”.
Sharpening his attack, he described Shah as “map drawer” who wants to change every map.
“First he did it in Jammu and Kashmir, and now he wants to bring Delhi under his control. You want everything under your control. How much power do you want? You have won four, you are in power at the Centre. What difference does it make, if you leave Delhi,” the TMC leader asked.
Roy said the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had challenged the BJP, saying his party will quit politics if BJP wins civic polls in Delhi.
“Why didn’t you accept his challenge. You don’t have the courage,” he said.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the crux of the bill was that it was bent on encroaching the jurisdiction of the state and undermining cooperative federalism.
“Today, you are talking about reunification of the civic bodies… The secret behind it is that you don’t want to face defeat in Delhi after elections in five states,” he said.
NCP member Supriya Sule wondered whether the Centre had an hidden agenda to rule the national capital through a special officer.
“This is when we feel that there is a contradiction and there is a hidden agenda. Why only Delhi, just because there is an administrator or the government today which is not of your ideology,” she said.
Congress member Gaurav Gogoi wondered how the bill will bring about change in the national capital, where the civic bodies had been struggling to pay salaries to healthcare workers, sanitation workers.
He said the sorry state of affairs of healthcare in the national capital was witnessed during the second wave of Covid last year.
CPI (M) leader A M Arif “strongly” opposed the bill and said it has anti-democratic provisions.
YSRCP MP Krishna Devarayalu Lavu compared the unification of the three municipalities with the reorganization of Andhra Pradesh.
He said that while the home minister said that the bill seeks to correct the wrong done in trifurcation of the Delhi Municipality, the same logic should apply to his state which suffered due to the reorganisation.
“The unification of the Delhi municipalities has parallels with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. It was unscientifically bifurcated, promises made were not fulfilled. If the union government believes that wrong was committed in Delhi and this bill will resolve it, why can’t the same be done for Andhra Pradesh,” he said. PTI ASK ASG PK SKU SKU ANB ANB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.