By Lalit Sethi
While the toppling games in Karnataka continue, similar efforts are being intensified in Delhi against Kejriwal. He has been facing the heat from the Centre and the Delhi BJP who are leaving no stone unturned to capture the Delhi Assembly next year.
In Kolkata on Martyrs Day celebrations on July 21 were marked by intensified BJP moves to topple Ms Mamata Banerjee and the Chief Minister paid back in coin in her criticism of the Prime Minister and BJP.
Could this be followed by new ouster moves against the Delhi Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, who is hot under the collar and has somewhat muted his war of words with the BJP. Does he realize that his days are numbered as Delhi goes to the polls next year to elect a new Assembly?
Has the prolonged heat wave since April this year, with occasional and rare rains for almost a year, aggravated the miserable plight of millions who live in Delhi, giving Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of the National Capital Region, the jitters that he would have to face the rap for his failures to alleviate the sufferings of the people? Is he wondering whether his days in office are numbered as the Delhi Assembly goes to the polls next year and the BJP is gunning for him and has raised the spectre of Kejriwal Mukt (free of him) Delhi?
He might have blown hot and cold for more than five years against the Congress and the BJP over Statehood for Delhi, but does he realize that he could not win a single seat in the elections to the Lok Sabha in May this year and his party lost in all the seven Delhi constituencies. Even the Congress had refused to join hands with him and have adjustments over a few seats to avoid division of votes between the two. He tried to talk about adjustments in Haryana and elsewhere, but there was no agreement. He was simply turned away. He might have defeated Mrs. Shiela Dikshit more than five years ago in the New Delhi constituency, but the wounds he inflicted on her and her party could not be healed.
With the Amit Shah juggernaut, likely to roll out sooner than later, is the game of ticking him off in the works, with Parliament’s Budget Session, about to end? Will the BJP and the Centre target him for what it considers Kejriwal’s “misdemeanours” for six years? Is it their belief that Kejriwal deserves punishment, not only at the voters’ level but even the Lieutenant-Governor’s level?
Is it the Centre’s perception that his arrogance needs a lesson or two over failures to govern Delhi and blame the Centre rather than introspect over his own governance issues? The Governor or the Centre has detailed dossiers on his numerous antics. His first “mischief” was to go on fast outside Rail Bhavan before the Republic Day Parade in the flush and euphoria over demands like full Statehood for Delhi. That crisis was defused by the then Lt.-Governor.
Would the Governor or the Union Home Ministry start demanding or asking that does he not have to answer many queries on several issues? Is it his style to start his own brand of criticism of the BJP and the Centre, and thus aggravate his “offensive attitude” by shifting the blame to his detractors? In the BJP’s opinion he does not believe in paying the dues Delhi Government owes to the threee BJP-ruled Municipal Corporations to help them overcome their huge deficits.
He used to blow hot and cold at the Delhi Development Authority for refusal to let him have a huge slice of DDA’s control over land in the capital and rule independently from his Secretariat. But has he mellowed and have his camp followers tried to go slow with their own brand of anti-BJP rhetoric?
He has announced that he has allocated Rs.500 crores for ownership rights of houses to residents of a number of unauthorized colonies, but the Union Urban Development Minister, Mr. HS Puri, says that this is a Kejriwal bluff because the Centre or DDA has already planned to do so without the Kejriwal government and called his antics sheer bluster. DDA is independent of Kejriwal and has planned to hold a draw of lots for the ownership rights for 18,000 new flats in Narela and Vasant Kunj to insist that it is trying to solve housing problems in the capital. It has received 45,000 applications for this scheme.
Kejriwal is now planning to install thousands of CCTVs all over Delhi in an effort to protect women who might be harassed and threatened, although the police and Delhi government already have many thousands of CCTVs in most localities. Is it a move to woo the voters and assure women that Aam Aadmi Party seeks to protect them?
Most of the Delhi’s 28 colleges are starved of mandatory assistance to pay the salaries of teachers or hire the full strength of staff because he says that the colleges do not have management committees, though the Delhi University has sent lists of new members of the committees. Higher education beyond the school level suffers as a result. He insists that 85 per cent of college seats should be reserved for residents of Delhi, but this just cannot be done under any rule.
Lalit Sethi is a Journalist of long standing and a commentator on Political and Social Issues.