Kejriwal talking full advantage of his CM Post
By Upendra Prasad
When Congress leaders had forced unwilling Kejriwal to form his government in Delhi, he said the Congress will have to repent its decision to allow him to become CM. It is clear now what he meant by saying it. In an unprecedented move, he has ordered institution of a case against present and former Petroleum Ministers as also Mukesh Ambani to manipulate and hike the gas prices. Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has reacted nervously by talking of the role of experts in deciding the prices and clearing himself from the charge. Industry has also reacted nervously on the decision.
The decision of Kejriwal becomes all the more credible because he took that on the complaints of two former Secretaries of Government of India and a former head of our naval forces. What direction and pace the decision to file the case takes is yet to be seen, but one thing is very much clear. Mr. Kejriwal is playing his card very smartly and taking full advantage of his status as Delhi Chief Minister to make corruption a big issue of Lok Sabha election and benefit from it, since almost all the major parties have tainted leaders on their ranks and files. Some of the parties are even led by known corrupt leaders, who are facing charges and cases in the courts and investigations by the competent authorities.
For the last three years, the movement against corruption is rattling out political establishment. Political leaders, who did not pay much heed to this movement may ignore it, but it is a truth that people from all sections of societies are agitated over it and they want something to be done to do away with the menace of corruption, which has emerged as a big threat to not only our economy, but also our democracy. Arvind Kejriwal, as a political leader, himself is the product of such movement. When he decided to form a political party and contest elections, the professional politicians were laughing at him. He made Delhi assembly election a test case. It gave joys to Congress and worries to BJP. Congress thought that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will marginally cut into BJP votes and ensure fourth term to Sheila Dikshit as CM of Delhi. BJP was worried for the similar region, but what we saw in Delhi election was the decimation of Congress, which could get only 8 out of 70 seats and even those seats were won by it because of the solid support it got from Muslim community, which was never enthusiastic towards the movements against corruption led by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev.
Will Kejriwal repeat his Delhi success in Lok Sabha as well? We can safely say that Lok Sabha election is not as easy as election of a small City state like Delhi. That is why we cannot expect such results for AAP in Lok Sabha elections. But another fact, which is in favor of Kejriwal, is the communication revolutions and information explosions through TV channels, newspapers and internet. Particularly TV channels are giving big support to the scheme of Kejriwal to agitate the mind of Indians against corruption. Today, people are more concerned about price rise and corruption. Kejriwal has succeeded in making these two issues one by proving again and again that price rise is due to the corruption and it is not a separate issue. The alleged corruption in determining the gas prices is bound to make people think that only issue before them is corruption and price rise is just its byproduct.
The first target of Kejriwal is naturally Congress led UPA, because it is running the government, but he has not left BJP untouched. BJP leaders will have to answer why they are silent on such a big scam affecting the whole nation by making it a high cost economy. BJP will have to answer it. Kejriwal had instituted many cases of corruption related to Commonwealth games and in some of the cases even Sheila Dikshit has been named. One case against Sheila Dikshit pertains to the distribution of fake certificated of authorization of unauthorized colonies of Delhi. The existing Lokayukt of Delhi had found the involvement of Sheila Dikshit in that forgery and Kejriwal has acted on the report of the present Lokayukt. What people have failed to notice is that it was Sonia Gandhi, who had handed over those certificates to the representatives of Resident Welfare Associations of those unauthorized colonies. Naturally, Sonia Gandhi herself may feel the heat in the case of fake authorization certificates.
Kejriwal knows that his AAP is not well equipped to fight Lok Sabha elections. He knows even his party was not well equipped to fight Delhi elections as well. Still his many candidates, who were not known throughout the campaigning even in their constituencies, won the elections because people wanted a change by defeating both BJP and Congress. Kejriwal thinks the same can be repeated in Lok Sabha elections as well. People will not vote for candidates. Rather they will vote for issue and the issue would be corruption. He will present his Delhi Lokpal Bill draft before the people as the panacea of all diseases relating to corruption. That is the reason, he has not named the bill as Delhi Lokayukt Bill, and rather he chose the word Delhi Lokpal Bill.
Kejriwal has done one more thing, which can help him to establish himself in the imagination of the public. That is his efforts to woo the support of Anna Hazare. Anna was angry with him, but he has somewhat succeeded in winning his heart by meeting him twice during his two days stay at Delhi and has invited him to inaugurate the schemes of proposed Swaraj Act, where Mohalla Sabhas would be given much more power in development of their areas. Anna himself talks of giving more power to Gram Sabha and hence he has given his assent to such inauguration, if that Act becomes reality. He has also supported the Delhi Lokpal Bill.
Kejriwal is likely to take on the centre on the issue of Delhi Lokpal and he may again sit on dharna before the Parliament after or even before leaving his office of CM. He may ask Anna to lead that movement. If Anna agrees, it will help AAP in a big way in Lok Sabha elections.
Which parties will be affected most by Kejriwal’s move against corruption? No doubt, Congress will be hit maximum. Many regional parties led by corrupt leaders may also lose their ground in a big way. This may not only help AAP, but also BJP, which can benefit by the divisions of anti BJP votes. Yes, BJP, too will have to rethink its strategy and will have to distance itself from those leaders among their ranks, who are considered to be corrupt. (IPA Service)