Delhi Politics

You all are aware that since last one week there is a cold war going on between AAP Govt and Bureaucracy in Delhi. Which started with the statement and allegation of Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash that 2 AAP MLAs physically assaulted him during the meeting at CM’s residence. Afterwards the hell broke lose and there were allegations and counter allegations between bureaucracy and MLAs and till today the impasse is not resolved. Police have taken these 2 MLAs into their custody.

After AAP loss in Punjab State Elections, Kejriwal’s ambition of becoming national leader has come cropper and he has been keeping quiet, but after this episode he has again back in confrontation mood with Central Govt. Something similar to Shakespearean tragedies is being enacted in the national capital nowadays. Kejriwal seems hell bent upon causing destruction upon himself and his party. Delhi has become now a state where power centre has shifted from CM’s office to Lieutenant Governor’s (LG) office. If I remember correctly, this was not the case  in the case of  15 years rule of Shiela Dikshit(Congress) and earlier 5 year rule of BJP. Earlier very few people believed there existed 2 power centres in Delhi. The general impression was that the LG is a titular head of Delhi like Governor for other states. This changed immediately after Kejriwal took over as CM, because he started as activist  and confronting CM and centre also went by the rule under which limited statehood was conferred to Delhi area.

After his first stint, when he came back with 67 out of 70 seats, Kejriwal the activist considered himself as supreme commander of Delhi and developed national ambition, and he even started thinking that he is alternative to Modi. He started calling Modi with bad names and even called him  psychopath and started telling every one that Modi is trying to kill him. In his 2nd innings as CM, he seemed unstoppable in his tirade against all those who were not part of his system. He started abusing big industrialists and calling  them with bad names but none of them took any legal action against him. He got the first setback when  Arun Jaitley dragged him to court for defamation. Kejriwal had levelled allegations of corruption during Jaitley tenure as President of Delhi & District Cricket Association. Second setback was loss in Punjab elections.

The loss in Punjab sent Kejriwal to silent mode and he stopped all his acidic statements against PM and LG, and started working for the betterment of Delhi. His govt did a good job in water supply, reining private schools on the issue of fees hike, implementation of Mohalla clinics, intervening in Metro fare hike etc. The people of Delhi suddenly heaved a sigh of relief  and though at least their CM has started working for the betterment of Delhi. Positive stories started about him and media stopped their campaign against him that Kejriwal accuses them of carrying out. He kept relatively cool when Election Commission disqualified 20 AAP MLAs from Delhi assembly for holding office of profit.

Then this incident with Anshu Prakash happened, naturally  the assault on him has sent a shock waves among bureaucrats. Again Arvind Kejriwal’s image  has taken a beating and this set back will be very difficult to wipe out. People have started talking that Kejriwal is his own worst enemy. Now it has become evident that he is surrounded by selfish, uncouth  and scheming politicians who have been part of Indian Political scene for long time. The intelligent and respected people who were part of his team, have left him or have been banished by him.

There is no one with him who has a stature of Yogendra Yadav who could be his moral and intellectual guide. The legal brain  and acumen of  Prashant Bhushan is not freely available to him now. The popular leader like Kumar  Vishwas  who could have managed and calmed the rustic MLAs in AAP, is sulking and he is spending his time at his house in Ghaziabad. And again Kejriwal is in angry mood and all his Vipasana sessions and training has thrown out of the window.

Some senior Citizens of Delhi have started saying that, the city of Delhi prospered best when there was no MLAs , no CM and when a LG was the only power centre and who ruled Delhi with an iron hand, without having to please any MLAs and other politicians except Home Minister and PM, who were very happy to give him all the  help and cooperation.

In the past, for the people of Delhi the performance of LG  was always linked with performance of central Govt and everyone was in sync to make things better for Delhi. Most of the people have started thinking the good old days were better  and Delhi should revert back to the status of Union Territory.

Friends, please communicate your views/feed backs/comments on this subject.