A man rides past a hoarding showing scam-tainted RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav hugging Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal set up by BJP in New Delhi yesterday.

IANS/New Delhi


Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party has not set its eyes on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but is confident of taking power in Punjab in 2017, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriewal said yesterday.
Addressing the AAP National Council meeting here, Kejriwal also made it clear that he remained opposed to Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad’s corrupt past and dynasty politics despite hugging him in Patna.
Nine months after he led the AAP to a sweeping victory in Delhi, Kejriwal said the growth of the country’s youngest political party was “a miracle in itself”.
“We are not here for power politics,” the AAP leader told the delegates at a closed door gathering. “People ask ‘2019 ki race mein ho kya?’, (are you in the 2019 race)” he said, referring to the next Lok Sabha battle.
“’Hum kisi race mein nahin hain. Dilli ki jeet karishma hai’ (We are not in any race. The victory in Delhi is a miracle),” he said.
“We just have to keep working hard and honestly. Don’t run after elections.”
But he quickly added that Punjab, which elected the AAP’s all four Lok Sabha members in 2014 and where assembly elections are due in two years, would be an exception.
“All indications are that you (are) going to get the same opportunity in Punjab (as in Delhi),” he said.
Kejriwal also sought to clear the air over the criticism he faced for hugging the RJD chief at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s swearing in in Patna on November 20.
He said Yadav was on the stage. “He shook hands, pulled me towards him and hugged me. And held my hand and raised it. This was projected (widely) and questions were asked.
“We have not formed an alliance (with RJD). We are against his record of corruption and will always oppose it. We are against his dynasty politics.
“His two sons are ministers. We are against that too.”
Kejriwal added: “I am happy that questions are being asked because people have hope (in AAP), because they think we are different.
“Nobody asks (these) questions when other leaders hug Laluji. This is good for us.”
The AAP leader defended his support to Nitish Kumar.
“Nitish is a good person. People have told us that Nitish has done good work. We worked against the BJP there and supported him.”
An income tax commissioner-turned-activist-turned-politician, Kejriwal said four years back he and his colleagues never thought of even contesting elections.
“This three-year journey is a miracle in itself. It was beyond us. If we think we are doing it, we are wrong. It’s a divine scheme.”
He said battling corruption by bringing in a Jan Lokpal and ushering in Swaraj were the AAP’s aims.
He said in the last 10 months, the AAP had bettered the performance of the erstwhile Shiela Dikshit government.
He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he had the entire nation at his disposal but even he did not do what the AAP had done in Delhi.
“Let’s talk about corruption first,” he said, adding there had never been an instance when a government sacked its own minister found involved in corruption.
“We see how governments keep brushing corruption cases under the carpet, specially against their own ministers.
“But in case of our government, nobody knew about it. Someone had sent a clip on WhatsApp. We saw it and felt the minister was involved.
“We analysed it and summoned the minister and confronted him. He confessed and we sacked him in an hour,” he said, referring to the ousted minister Asim Ahmed Khan.
Around 40 suspended AAP members and about 100 party members not invited to its National Council meeting staged a protest outside the venue.
According to the protesters, they were not allowed to attend the meeting. A few suspended party members said they were told about their suspension by a letter when they reached the venue.
“The party was formed to fight corruption and support ‘Swaraj abhiyaan’. But now the AAP is digressing from these issues,” said one protester.