Congress has failed Amethi, says senior AAP leader

A man who identified himself as Saif Jafari, disrupts a press conference of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas in Lucknow on Saturday.

IANS/Lucknow

Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas yesterday said the Congress has failed the people of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, and that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi never raised the problems of his constituency in parliament even once.

“Rahul Gandhi, prior to elections, turns up in Amethi seeking votes, but when the time comes to work for the people there, he never pays heed,” Vishwas said, addressing a public rally in Amethi, about 140km from Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow.

“Amethi has to decide now. I am an ‘aam aadmi’ (common man) and he (Rahul Gandhi) is a prince. If Amethi wants, it can get rid of dynasty politics. Winning and losing is not the point, but what is important is we are challenging dynastic politics and corruption,” the 43-year-old AAP leader said.

Vishwas said Gandhi would spend nights in Amethi to win the sympathy of people in his constituency, but that alone would not solve their problems.

“There are a lot of other problems to which Rahul has paid no heed,” he said, explaining that he was firmly resolved to contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Amethi.

Vishwas’ press conference here was disrupted on Saturday when a man threw an egg at him while raising slogans against the party. Saif Zafri was soon overpowered by Aam Aadmi Party activists and handed over to police.

While on his way to Amethi, black flags were waved at Vishwas.

Asked yesterday about the protest at the press conference, he said: “What is the protest all about? Is it because that Amethi’s dynasty politics should not be challenged or is it about the poems that I have read which had hurt the sentiments of a certain community, for which I have already apologised?”

In New Delhi, the Congress criticised Vishwas for targeting Gandhi, saying the AAP’s thinking was limited to the Congress vice president.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said Gandhi has been contesting from Amethi constituency for years and the people there were very happy to see him as their leader.

“Let the general election results come out. AAP and the other parties will get to know what the truth is,” Shukla told Times Now channel.

“Every one is aware of the fact that Rahul Gandhi has been winning elections from Amethi and this time also he will win with a thumping majority,” Shukla said.

Meanwhile, two former top government officials, including a bureaucrat, will help the AAP government in Delhi realise its promise of ‘swaraj’ (self-rule) and monitor the anti-corruption helpline for the people - at a token salary of Re1 a month.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary S C Behar, the man behind the successful concept of ‘gram swaraj’, that helped bring decision-making powers to the village level in the central state, is to work at the token salary to help the AAP government draft its much-talked about swaraj legislation in Delhi.

Former Delhi Police joint commissioner N Dilip Kumar, who is to monitor the AAP government’s anti- corruption helpline to catch bribe takers, will also draw Re1 per month as ‘symbolic amount’.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had decided to choose Behar for the “complicated” job of drafting swaraj to ensure participation of people in decision making through establishing “mohalla sabhas (community meetings).

Behar’s concept of ‘gram swaraj’ in Madhya Pradesh was hailed by many, including foreign university scholars, for empowering village panchayats in decision making.

“Implementing swaraj in Delhi is a challenging job, as it is entirely different than gram swaraj in MP which is a rural state. Delhi is an urban state,” Behar said.

Asked about the salary, he said: “When he (Kejriwal) asked me to work on swaraj and asked me what salary I would take, I said no salary please... just a token money of Re1 would do.”

Kumar, who earned the sobriquet of “sting man” for carrying out 50 sting operations, says he and Kejriwal share the “same wave length” and this led him to work for the AAP government.

Interestingly, Behar is said to be close to Digvijay Singh of the Congress - the party which was hurt the most by rookie AAP in the Delhi assembly elections.

Asked about his closeness to Singh, Behar said: “My contribution is not to a political party but to the government of Delhi, which happens to be led by AAP,” Behar said.