Bengaluru:

Former Supreme Court Judge N Santosh Hegde said today he was “totally disappointed” with Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in connection with an excise policy linked money-laundering case.

Justice (retd) Hegde, a former Solicitor General of India, was among the key personalities, including Mr Kejriwal, behind the then ‘India Against Corruption’ movement, spearheaded by Anna Hazare, more than a decade ago, which had at the time brought the issue of corruption into sharp focus.

“It clearly shows that when in power, greed overtakes you,” he said on the case against Arvind Kejriwal.

“I am totally disappointed. I thought AAP (after it came to power) will uphold administrative fairness which is not there. And it is an indication of the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he told Press Trust of India.

After a part of the movement became a political party (AAP), Justice (retd) Hegde, the former Karnataka Lokayukta, came out of it.

“Special reason for coming out was that politics today is a den of corruption. No political party is free from it. The India Against Corruption movement was fighting against corruption in administration.

It was our principle that we will stay out of politics and try to clean politics. But then a group of people decided that we should enter into politics (and then went on to form AAP) and clean it which I never believed can be done successfully. And I think what’s happening today in AAP is an example of what I thought was correct,” Mr Hegde said.

He said Arvind Kejriwal had come home to invite him to join the party but he did not agree.

Mr Hegde also shared his views on oft-repeated allegations levelled by opposition parties against the BJP-led NDA government of misusing Central agencies like ED and CBI in corruption cases and targeting them.

“Allegation of parties in opposition that the ruling party is doing it only for destroying opposition, I don’t believe it. Yes, they are selectively doing this. But that is no offence at all. Because in criminal jurisprudence, there is no Article 14 (of the Constitution)…does not apply equality.

“And one day when they will come to power, they will go against the BJP. So, ultimately there will be complete justice, is it? If they don’t do it against the opposition, then when they come to power they won’t do it against these people also. At least 50 per cent justice is being done now,” he said.

In the coming Lok Sabha elections, Hegde said he wants every eligible person to vote.

“Vote not based on any caste, or any affiliation whatsoever, vote based on the quality of the candidate. If you don’t find a suitable candidate who would serve your constituency, then there is NOTA (None of the Above). Vote for NOTA. That will send a message to political parties that every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ is not a suitable politician,” he said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The decade-long rivalry between the AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal and the BJP ruling at the Centre reached a crescendo on Thursday with the arrest of the Delhi chief minister by the ED in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

The tussle between the two sides began with their almost simultaneous rise to power with the BJP led by Narendra Modi receiving a massive mandate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the AAP forming the government in Delhi with a historic victory a year later by winning 67 assembly seats out of 70.

Even before this, Mr Kejriwal, after a brief stint as chief minister of Delhi in 2013, challenged Prime Minister Modi in a much-publicised contest from Varanasi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, setting the stage for a rivalry that has continued over the years.

Speaking in the Delhi Assembly in February this year, Mr Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, asserted that the AAP is “the biggest threat” to the BJP and vowed to liberate the country from it in the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.

The confrontations between the Kejriwal government and the Centre over governance-related matters assumed political overtones and blame-game with both the AAP and the BJP joining their respective sides.

The Aam Aadmi Party dispensation since coming to power in Delhi in 2015 has been involved in frequent run-ins with the office of lieutenant governor.

It began with the Kejriwal government confronting the then Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over the issues of control over the Anti Corruption Branch, transfer and posting of senior officers, and movement of official files, just after coming to power.

The AAP vociferously attacked Mr Jung, who formed a three-member committee headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India V K Shunglu to look into 400 files of the Delhi government.

Another controversy erupted when Mr Jung appointed an IAS officer chief secretary who was asked by Mr Kejriwal not to take charge and even locked his office over the matter.

The tussle between the AAP dispensation and the LG office continued even after Mr Jung resigned in December 2016 and former Union home secretary Anil Baijal replaced him.

Mr Baijal’s more than five-year tenure as Delhi LG witnessed numerous face-offs, the most remarkable being Chief Minister Kejriwal accompanied by his cabinet colleagues staging a dharna inside Raj Niwas in 2018, alleging that city bureaucrats were not listening to the ministers.

The AAP dispensation also clashed with Mr Baijal over the appointment of special public prosecutors for a trial of cases related to the Delhi riots in 2020 and anti-CAA protests.

In July 2021, the then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia objected to Mr Baijal holding meetings with officers and instructing them on works that directly came under the purview of the elected government.

A more bitter face-off ensued after incumbent Lt Governor V K Saxena took charge in May 2022.

Within two months, Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and procedural lapses in the formulation and execution of the Kejriwal government’s excise policy 2021-22.

This opened up an altogether new chapter of fraught relations between the AAP dispensation and the other side, with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arresting Sisodia and party MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the alleged liquor scam.

After the ED’s summonses to Mr Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy-linked money laundering case and also in a separate case related to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the AAP has sharpened its attack on the BJP and its government at the Centre.

The AAP leadership has accused the BJP of trying to break the party by sending the Delhi chief minister behind bars and toppling his government in Delhi.

The BJP, on the other hand, is having a field day slamming AAP and Kejriwal over alleged corruption in the Delhi government.

The Delhi LG empowered by the implementation of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act in August 2023, has assumed a more proactive role in governance-related matters evoking strong protests by the Kejriwal government and AAP.

The power tussle between the Kejriwal government and the Centre has its genesis in a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in May 2015, stipulating Delhi LG will have jurisdiction in services, public order, police and land matters.

The notification paved the way for a long legal battle between the two sides in the Delhi High Court as well as the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on May 11, 2023, ruled in favour of the Delhi government extending its executive powers over the services matters involving transfer and posting of senior officers.

Within days of the SC verdict, the BJP-led Centre brought an ordinance that was later on turned into an Act restoring the power balance in favour of its representative LG. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest in the alleged excise policy scam has posed a leadership crisis in the Aam Aadmi Party as well as the Delhi government, with his wife Sunita Kejriwal and cabinet ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj being talked about as a possible replacement.

The challenge before the AAP now is to come up with a worthy leader who can handle both the party and its government in Delhi in Mr Kejriwal’s absence.

However, it is indeed a big task for the AAP leadership to come up with a name that at least comes close to Mr Kejriwal’s stature as the party’s convener since its inception in 2012 and the Delhi Chief Minister for three terms spanning nearly a decade.

The urgency of the task becomes even more pressing as the AAP is gearing up to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Assam, and Haryana where Mr Kejriwal was to be a key campaigner of the party.

Apart from Sunita Kejriwal, who is a former IRS officer, the names of AAP Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj too are ding the rounds for the top job.

Atishi, who holds the most number of portfolios in the Delhi government, including education, finance, PWD, revenue and services, is considered a close aide of Arvind Kejriwal.

She is also a spokesperson of the party, who has been defending the AAP government and Arvind Kejriwal, and attacking the BJP in her press conferences and appearances on news channels.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, too, is also a prominent member of the Delhi cabinet with several important portfolios, including health and urban development.

He is also a well known face of the party, often engaged in defending the it and its leaders and counter-attacking the BJP and its government at the Centre on issues of governance and politics.

However, in December last year, the AAP launched a signature campaign “Main Bhi Kejriwal (I Am Also Kejriwal)’, asking people whether he should resign as Chief Minister or run the government from jail if he is arrested.

During the campaign, the AAP chief met party MLAs and Delhi municipal corporation councilors for their feedback on the issue.

Mr Bharadwaj recently told reporters in a press conference, “Nearly 90% of people in this exercise opined that Mr Kejriwal has the mandate of Delhi and has been elected. Hence, only he would run the government in Delhi no matter from where.”

The AAP leadership also has to find Mr Kejriwal’s replacement to head the party that runs the governments in Delhi and Punjab besides having MLAs in Gujarat and Goa. The options are rather limited for the party.

Apart from Sunita Kejriwal, name of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Atishi too are taking rounds as leaders who could hold the responsibility of new AAP national convener.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a sharply-worded message, called Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest this evening by the Enforcement Directorate “completely wrong and unconstitutional”. The Delhi Chief Minister was taken into custody in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise scam.

Ms Vadra is the first INDIA bloc leader to slam the arrest.

“Targeting Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal in this manner due to elections is completely wrong and unconstitutional. Lowering the level of politics in this manner suits neither the Prime Minister nor his government,” she wrote on X, minutes after the arrest.

“Fight your critics in the electoral battle, confront them boldly, and of course attack their policies and working style – this is democracy. But in this way, using the power of all the institutions of the country to fulfill one’s political objective and weakening them by exerting pressure is against every principle of democracy,” she added.

The Congress leader listed the ways the Opposition in the country is being targetted and attacked by the BJP ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls.

“The bank accounts of the country’s largest opposition party Congress have been frozen, all the political parties and their leaders are under pressure day and night from the ED, the CBI, and the IT, one Chief Minister has been put in jail, now preparations are being made to take another Chief Minister to jail. Such a shameful scene is being seen for the first time in the history of Independent India,” she added.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has become the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested in the history of Independent India. His party maintained he will continue to hold the post.

The arrest has dealt a severe blow to the Opposition’s mega alliance INDIA, of which the AAP is a member.