The row over Janlokpal Bill may well be the exit route of Kejriwal with the same old plan ‘“ gain martyrdom and seek sympathy in the eyes of voters. As he himself said in the media today, ‘œThey may not do. If they do not support, I will resign. After that, people will teach them a lesson.’
A new drama has started in the capital of Delhi with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal threatening to resign if Congress does not support passing of the Janlokpal Bill in the assembly. “The Jan Lokpal Bill is very important for me. If it is not passed in the Delhi Assembly, I will resign. Jan Lokpal Bill ke liye 100 CM ki kursi kurbaan (I can sacrifice the CM seat a hundred times for the Bill),” he was quoted by the media today morning.
The party also hopes to get the Assembly to pass the Swaraj Bill, another of its key poll promises opposed by other parties. The Swaraj Bill intends to decentralise power by segregating the city into 2,700 mohalla sabhas, which will have functions ranging from the cleaning of roads to public vaccination and inoculation, issuing of solvency certificates, preserving heritage and even promoting compassion toward animals. The Bill also intends to do away with MLA development funds.
The Bills would be tabled in the Assembly on February 15 and 16, respectively according to Kejriwal.
It should be noted that on Saturday, Kejriwal had said that he would “go to any extent” to ensure passage of the Bill. Past week, the BJP and Congress had come heavily down on the Aam Aadmi Party opposing the bill on the grounds of it being unconstitutional.
In a House of 70, AAP’s strength has been reduced to 27, including the Speaker, after its MLA Vinod Kumar Binny was expelled from the party. The party is propped up by the Congress’s eight members and two others in the assembly. The opposition, BJP, has 32 members.
Kejriwal has been showing his disenchantment with the chief minister’s post for quite some time now. He has always been quoted in the media saying that he does not care about the post. The timing of the statement, however, is noteworthy. It picked up pace after the proximity of Lok Sabha elections increased.
The fractured mandate in Delhi was considered to be a possible reason for AAP trying to go down as martyr only to come back with an overwhelming support. But with the noise increasing and AAP preparing for its debut at national platform this may well be its strategy to gain another national sympathy wave.
The AAP is already facing quite bad press and decline in its funding and support after its law minister Somnath Bharti’s midnight raid and arrogance of the party over many issues. And it is easy to expect Kejriwal and his party turn many wrong into rights within whatever few week they have left in hand till ok Sabha elections due in mid-May.
Although Kejriwal had said that he will not pin for the PM post, he had later, and as usual, retracted from his statement saying that he will contest general elections as a PM hopeful if his party would want so. In fact on Sunday, in an interaction with news agencies, Kejriwal said he would contest the Lok Sabha elections “if a need arises”.
The row over Janlokpal Bill may well be the exit route of Kejriwal with the same old plan – gain martyrdom and seek sympathy in the eyes of voters. As he himself said in the media today, “They may not do. If they do not support, I will resign. After that, people will teach them a lesson.”
