Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday (August 31) asked Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to at least heed the advice of his mentor Anna Hazare if not the leaders of the political parties. Bajwa was referring to the two-page letter that Anna Hazare wrote to Kejriwal on Tuesday where the latter had lambasted the Delhi Chief Minister for being drunk and intoxicated by the power.
Bajwa said it was for the first time in the last 11 years that 85-year-old Anna Hazare was compelled to write to Kejriwal after the AAP convener used the Indian Against Corruption (IAC) campaign for his political aspirations. “In fact, Anna Hazare criticised Kejriwal for completely ignoring his promises of establishing Swaraj and Lokpal after coming to power and rather got embroiled in liquor policy row,” the Congress leader said.
Kejriwal has lost moral ground
Bajwa said Kejriwal has lost moral ground on the basis of which he would call AAP a different and honest party. “Kejriwal is now branding Anna Hazare’s letter a handiwork of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) while completely ignoring the contribution of his mentor on whose shoulders his party and his associates were able to gain political power in Delhi as well as in Punjab. Though it is another thing how Kejriwal and his party made false promises to the gullible voters and were never able to live up to the aspirations of the people,” stated Bajwa.
The Congress leader said in Punjab too the AAP government has already lost the plot. “The law and order situation has completely gone out of hand. Farmers are committing suicide every day and drugs have become the way of life for many youngsters. On top, Punjab and Haryana High Court have criticised Punjab government for being unable to control illegal mining in the state, especially along the border areas which the court said was posing a national security threat,” he added.
This comes after social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of being intoxicated with power and forgetting the ideology and values of the movement that created the AAP. According to him, Kejriwal after becoming Delhi CM had deviated from their ideology.
Anna Hazare wrote, “This is the first time I am writing to you after you became Chief Minister. The recent news about the Delhi government on the liquor scam is disheartening. I have been inspired by Gandhiji and his ideology. Based on this, I have dedicated my life to the people, society and the country. For the last 47 years, I have been working towards the upliftment of society and corruption.”
Anna Hazare was the face of the massive anti-corruption that propelled Kejriwal to the national spotlight. Meanwhile, Kejriwal suggested that former associate Anna Hazare was being “used” by political rivals to target him as he dismissed the social activist’s criticism of his policies and style of functioning.
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“They (BJP) have been saying there’s a scam in the liquor policy but CBI said there’s no scam. The public is not listening to them. Ab yeh Anna Hazare Ji ke kandhe pe rakh ke banduk chala rahe hain (Now there are using Anna Hazare as a pretext to attack me). This is common in politics,” said Kejriwal.