Shanti Bhushan unhappy with Kejriwal despite AAP landslide win

Arvind Kejriwal may have halted Modi's tsunami by unprecedented victory over BJP, octogenarian member of AAP, Shanti Bhushan, is still not happy with Kejriwal. He says Arvind has compromised on the party's true objective to establish clean politics in the country. "...which is why he has lost the support of people like me,'' senior Bhushan told dna in an interview.

Calling the AAP's pool of ministerial hopefuls lacking in talent, Bhushan questions how they will possibly fulfil their unsustainable promises. "I might have been able to advise Arvind, but I distance myself from his coterie. How will they get the money for 15 lakh CCTV cameras, building houses for each jhuggi dweller and for lowering VAT rates and living expenses.''

Bhushan had voiced his concerns about missing internal democracy in the AAP two weeks ago and had preferred Kiran Bedi over Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi's chief minister. Today, he attributes AAP's landslide victory more to people wanting to defeat the BJP than seeing AAP win. BJP lost because Congress deliberately shifted its vote bank to AAP, to form a solid opposition, says Shanti Bhsuhan.

"In front of a wave, when the people want to teach the BJP a lesson for being communal fringe elements go unchecked, for appearing too arrogant, anyone will fall,'' he says.

"Arvind is a great communicator, like Modi, but his governance is limited,'' says Bhushan. "Today, in his heart of hearts, he might have regretted giving tickets to shady candidates, with corrupt and criminal backgrounds. In such a wave, clean people would have won and the party would have won.''

Touching on the controversy of alleged crooks in the AAP, Bhushan talks about reports of people paying Rs 2-3 crore for tickets. He terms this as a desperate move by Kejriwal who, according to him, had then thought only such people could win elections, not honest people.

"Now, how will he fight corruption when his own candidates will be looking to get back the money they had spent,'' Bhushan says, giving example of Amanatullah Khan, who has won Assembly elections from Okhla. Bhushan calls him a "communal man", who had put out communal advertisements at the party's behest. He alleges the party had then asked Amanatullah to take the fall for it in exchange for a ticket.

"I am committed to helping the party back to its true course. For that, perhaps, the founders need to put up a new convener who will practice clean politics,'' Bhushan says, but he doesn't spell out who will replace present party convener Kejriwal.