New Delhi, Jan 22: Days before the Delhi elections, AAP founding member Shanti Bhushan Thursday said making Kiran Bedi the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate was a “master stroke” and she will make a better chief minister than AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal.
Kejriwal, however, played down the comment, saying it will not cause any damage.
Shanti Bhushan’s son Prashant, who is also an Aam Aadmi Party leader, said such issues were internal to the party and Shanti Bhushan should not have spoken out publicly.
Shanti Bhushan said a crusader against corruption becoming chief minister will be welcomed by the people.
“Kiran and Arvind were both part of the Anna (Hazare) movement, it is definitely a master stroke by the BJP because it is a success of the Anna movement,” Shanti Bhushan said.
“People want somebody to be the chief minister who has an honest image… If a person who is a crusader against corruption becomes the chief minister, people will be happy,” Shanti Bhushan said.
Shanti Bhushan was part of the Jan Lokpal movement and India Against Corruption led by social activist Anna Hazare.
“Perhaps she (Bedi) would make a much better chief minister because there is so much being said against Arvind,” Shanti Bhushan told news channel Times Now.
Kejriwal played down the comments, saying it only displayed the internal democracy within the party.
“There is no damage as such… It just shows that there is an internal democracy within the party and all are free to air their views,” the former chief minister said, responding to questions on Shanti Bhushan’s comments.
“We have an internal Lokpal in the party, Shanti ji has also sent many complaints and the Lokpal considered them. If he has more complaints, he can approach the Lokpal,” he said.
Shanti Bhushan said Kejriwal had, in fact, asked Bedi to be the chief ministerial candidate of the AAP, but she refused.
“Last year, Kejriwal offered the post of chief minister to her. It means he felt she would make a better chief minister, but she did not join the AAP. I think from very beginning, she had some pro-BJP mindset. I would have preferred if she was with the AAP and became the chief minister,” Shanti Bhushan said.
The then law minister in the Morarji Desai government also alleged that the ticket distribution in the AAP was faulty.
“In the ticket distribution, he (Kejriwal) has given tickets on the basis of winnability,” he said.
Shanti Bhushan said Bedi’s nomination by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the success of the anti-corruption movement.
“The AAP’s aim was to re-establish clean politics in the country. It has succeeded in the way it forced the BJP to bring Bedi in the party,” he said.
Prashant Bhushan, who spoke to Headlines Today news channel, said he would not discuss issues internal to the party.
“These are issues which are internal to the party… I am not going to discuss (them) publicly,” he said.
“I don’t think he (Shanti Bhushan) should have spoken out publicly,” Prashant Bhushan said. (IANS)
