A multi-faceted BJP leader, Manoj Tiwari is politician, actor, singer and TV personality. The 46- year-old Delhi BJP president, Tiwari, who hails from Bihar, has been a Bhojpuri film star. He is also the BJP MP from North East Delhi.

Tiwari is widely tipped to become the BJP’s face in the national capital in the 2020 Assembly polls. The BJP has not been able to win the city-state for the last five assembly elections. Barely six months after Tiwari was appointed as the Delhi BJP chief in November 2016, the party won a crucial assembly bypoll in Rajouri Garden besides sweeping the elections to all three Delhi municipal corporations in April 2017.

Last month, however, it got a setback when the ruling AAP registered a resounding victory in the Bawana assembly bypoll. In an interview with SHARBANI BANERJEE, Tiwari candidly fielded a range of questions.

Here are excerpts:

What is the major challenge being faced by the national capital?

In my view, high level of pollution is a serious and major challenge which the Capital is facing. The three important issues relating to it include cleanliness, lack of coordination between the Delhi government and the city’s three municipal corporations, and thirdly the lack of new technology. Due to poor coordination, the work which should be promptly wrapped up, gets stuck and delayed. Even the bureaucrats have failed. If the political executive in Delhi government is not capable of doing something, what are bureaucrats doing?

What will be the roadmap for your party in the run-up to the 2020 Delhi assembly elections?

Our roadmap is to highlight in public the issue of lack of coordination among multiple government and civic agencies. We will work constructively on this as such coordination is vital to solving Delhi’s problems related to sanitation, cleanliness, use of modern technology among others. So, this would be a major aspect of our 2020 assembly polls roadmap. We don’t want to get bogged down in politics of allegations and counter-allegations. We are here to work for people and would like to achieve this by ensuring close and proper coordination among all public agencies.

What is your assessment of the Arvind Kejriwal government?

I will give Kejriwal 0.5 on a score of 10. Of his 70 point promises made in the AAP election manifesto for 2015 Delhi polls, he has not fulfilled even one. But since he had launched the “odd and even programme”, I give him 0.5. It was a good programme, but I don’t know under what pressure he stopped it. He should have strongly stood by it.

Do you see the Congress party also as a major challenger to the AAP in the next assembly polls?

The Congress is definitely a better party than the AAP and it could play the role of a constructive Opposition when the BJP comes to power in Delhi. The AAP will be driven out of the contest. Q. Do you see yourself as the BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate in the next Delhi polls? A. My job is only to strengthen the BJP in the Capital as the party president. The party has given me a task and I have to meet its expectations. Decisions such as who would become the CM are taken at the last moment.

Your party unit has been reeling under infighting and factionalism. How will you ensure a united party campaign for the next elections?

There is no infighting within the party. These are just rumours. We are working hard to strengthen the party. We are regularly planning and organising our programmes, and we see maximum participation of workers and leaders in them.

How did the BJP fail to win the Bawana bypoll? Had the party become over-confident?

No. There was no overconfidence. The point is, it was not an election to change the government. We got popular feedback that it was an election imposed on them. People were in no mood to step out of their premises and vote. And they also told us that even if the BJP wins, it would be of no use as the AAP government with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would still continue.

But the BJP had won the Rajouri Garden bypoll earlier in April?

The polling for Rajouri Garden bye-election took place just after the civic polls. It was an atmosphere of polls and people were excited for a change then.

What about the promise you made soon after the BJP’s triumph in civic polls that Delhi would be made garbage free in four months?

There is a process for every work, you will notice a remarkable change in this regard within a month. A tender has been floated to lift garbage from the Gazipur landfill site. This will be used for building roads for which the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has already announced allocation of Rs 34,300 crore. Also, we have asked all three municipal corporations to submit their report cards as per their manifestos.

Delhi BJP MPs have made complaints about the state party office-bearers’ interference in their work in their respective areas.Your comment?

If any party functionary wants to know about any problem through the MP of a particular area, this should not be termed as a “complaint”. Instead it should be treated as “coordination”. If there is no coordination, there will be problems. MPs and office-bearers of the party coordinate and work together, and that is why the party appoints its office-bearers.