MUMBAI: In the wake of corruption charges against former Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal and the practice of freebies prior to polls — commonly called ‘revdi’ — leaders from other parties, some of who split from his Aam Admi Party (AAP) shared their views with IANS.
Mumbai-based Anjali Damania, former leader of Aam Aadmi Party, stated that AAP initially comprised of simple people who wanted to change the politics of the nation.
“Many have left but did not speak ill of the party, ” she said, referring to the “sheeshmahal” comment of Kailash Gahlot regarding AAP, who recently left the party. She called people like him “opportunists.”
“We see it every time that the ED and CBI are only after the Opposition. If these people join the ruling party, they get a clean chit. If someone has done wrong, they must be punished; but these games have to end, ” she said with regard to corruption charges against the AAP national Convenor.
She refrained from commenting on Kejriwal and his alleged greed for power but asserted that AAP was born out of the intent to bring change in the nation.
“Somewhere something kept going wrong that is why many like me have left the party, but I believe that Arvind Kejriwal did this not for himself but to promote the party’s ideology—but this was wrong too and so, unacceptable, ” she said.
Talking about the freebies, she said that this is “opportunistic politics by BJP.” On that note, she went on to say that Ajit Pawar is the “most unpredictable leader of Maharashtra.” She explained that if he bags 18-20 seats, he will try to become CM, irrespective of the party he will associate with.
on the other hand, Spokesperson of Maharashtra Congress, Dr Raju Waghmare asserted that there is no India bloc as such, “It came to an end in Lok Sabha and Kejriwal will fight Delhi election on his own.”
Talking about the ‘revdi’ practice, Waghmare said that as a government, the marginalised and lesser privileged sections of the society such as the Dalits and Adivasis have to be catered to. “A government not doing this is not fit to be in this position. If you call this support ‘revdi’, that’s your understanding, ” he said.
“But if Kejriwal ji is calling such support by others revdi, then it is wrong, ” he added.
In the national capital, former AAP leader Kapil Mishra, who joined BJP in 2019, and is the Vice President of Delhi BJP, said without mincing words: “Kejriwal’s revdi has poison. He is distributing poisonous revdi.”
He explained with the example of the promise of free water but about 40 per cent of people in Delhi have to buy water from tankers to meet basic requirements. “Where water is available, it is so bad that people fall sick and end up in hospital, ” he said.
He explained further that the price of free electricity is that Delhi has no repaired roads and no new flyover; schools don’t have principals, contracted employees are not made permanent.
“Delhi has come to a standstill. The conditions are bad and Kejriwal will lose this election, ” he said.
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