A palpable sense of uncertainty has gripped the Aam Admi Party (AAP) government led by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi and a fear of the unknown looms large over it. The government might fall if the BJP’s alleged “Operation Lotus” offensive gains success sooner or later. Word spread that the BJP is trying to poach 40 MLAs out of the 60-plus of the ruling AAP, with a “promised offer of gratification” of Rs 20 crore per legislator. The veracity of such allegations cannot be established but fact is, the BJP has grown weary of the Kejriwal enterprise after the Chief Minister began making frequent trips to Gujarat, five in a month’s time. Without doubt, by targeting Gujarat, Kejriwal is targeting Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, who lord over the political turf there. Defeating the BJP in Gujarat in the assembly polls in December would mean half the battle won for the national Opposition in the 2024 general elections.
This is not an impossible proposition as the Congress had put the BJP on edge in the last assembly polls in Gujarat. If the AAP too stepped in there in the coming polls, the BJP will be the loser more than the Congress. Kejriwal is aiming to give a platform to the underlings who hardly got any benefit from the BJP rule in the state for the past quarter of a century and those who gained there were the powerful communities like the Patels. So was the case during the previous Congress rules there as well.
The Kejriwal edifice has already taken a hit in the form a raid by CBI on the residence of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on allegations that something is fishy about the liquor policy that has come under the scanner of the CBI, the caged parrot. Kejriwal himself fears Sisodia might be arrested. Amid the gathering storm, he went up to Rajghat to pray for the safety of the AAP government. The Modi government has acquired a kind of notoriety for the suspected misuse of the CBI and ED to target its political rivals. Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee had a bitter taste of it and she’s left speechless after the raids on Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal. Question is, what of the rest of the large army of the corrupt, the looters of public money at every turn. ‘Selective amnesia’ is unacceptable. Also, the cause of democracy is not being served if the ruling party at the Centre adopts third-degree methods to target rivals and pull down state governments.
