On Thursday, Bhushan, the veteran lawyer who is a founding member of AAP, described Bedi’s induction by the BJP as a "masterstroke,” ranking her as the best among Delhi's chief ministerial aspirants. Heaping humiliation on Kejriwal, he ranked him third, well below Ajay Maken of the Congress. Bhushan’s son, Prashant, also a lawyer and leading light of AAP, has kept his silence so far, but his absence from the party's election campaign has spoken volumes.
Among other things, party insiders say what has riled the Bhushans is Kejriwal’s selection of candidates.
Born out of an anti-corruption movement, AAP took the risk of fielding political novices during the last assembly elections. The strategy paid off and how. But the party’s difficulty in replicating the success in the parliamentary polls appears to have tamed its risk-taking abilities. It has found it hard to resist the urge to bring in career politicians from other parties.
Based on conversations with party insiders and volunteers, here are four seats where the party’s selection of candidates has created disaffection and turmoil.
Chhattarpur
Famous for the farmhouses of Delhi's swish set, Chhattarpur is also the land of Gujjars. Among the hardy agriculturists is a man called Kanwar Singh Tanwar who was Delhi’s richest candidate in the 2008 elections. Tanwar, who declared both tractors and luxury cars in his affidavit, among other assets worth Rs 150 crore, contested and lost the election on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. But a fellow Gujjar, born in the same village, Kartar Singh Tanwar, went on to win two successive municipal elections on a BJP ticket. Compared to Kanwar Singh, Kartar Singh is poor – he owns assets valued at Rs 12.8 crore according to a 2012 election affidavit. But AAP workers still consider him an unworthy Mr Moneybags who has been imposed on them by their leaders. Kartar Singh joined AAP as recently as November 2014 when after seven years in the BJP, he began to see it as “a den of corruption”. A month later, he was given a ticket by AAP, much to the dismay of old workers who allege that Kartar Singh was highly corrupt not only as as councillor but also in his former job as a government engineer in the city water department.
Tughalakabad
Like Chhattarpur, Tughalakabad is an outer Delhi seat. Here again, an outsider has been inducted into the party. What has added insult to injury, say AAP workers, is that Sahi Ram Pehalwan, who contested on a BSP ticket in the last elections, had them beaten up during the polls. “We had filed a case against him for rioting under section 146 and 147 of the IPC,” said an AAP worker who did not want to be named. “He is a known bahubali of the area.” Sahi’s affidavit from 2013 shows that he has 12 charges of rioting, assault and criminal intimidation. “We are faced with the embarrassment of canvassing for support for the same man we fought against the last time,” said the AAP worker.
Bawana
It’s the same story in Bawana in north-west Delhi. The AAP candidate, Ved Prakash, who was with BJP until recently, stands accused of beating up AAP workers during the last election. A party worker named Ashok Kumar had filed a case against Prakash at that time. In a curious turn of events, soon after AAP announced Prakash’s candidature, his erstwhile party released a list of 20 charges against him. The Times of India reported, “The complaints range from defacement of public property, threatening his neighbour with death and possession of unlicensed firearm to rioting. The list also includes cases filed against the candidate's family members. AAP, meanwhile, defended Prakash, saying that they had conducted a thorough background check and found no case against him.”
Last week, as if to make up for the resentment he had caused within the party rank and file, Prakash declared that Kejriwal was "an avatar of Vishnu". The Indian Express reported on a meeting where he said, “Krishna was born to end all evil during the Dvapara Yuga and Ram was born to vanquish Raavan, the embodiment of evil in Treta Yuga. Arvind Kejriwal is an avatar of Vishnu and has been sent here to vanquish corruption.”
R K Puram
In the south Delhi seat of RK Puram, AAP has fielded Parmila Dheeraj Tokas, a former Bahujan Samaj Party councillor. Parmila is married to Dheeraj Kumar Tokas who contested on a BSP ticket in the 2013 assembly elections. In his affidavit, Dheeraj declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore with nearly 20 properties, both agricultural and residential. This made him the second richest candidate in the election. His wife Parmila's candidature had irked party workers enough for one of them to post a complaint on the AAP website. Pointing out that the couple’s assets had doubled between 2012 and 2013, and that Dheeraj had been charged in a case of “paid news” during the 2013 polls, Amit Bhargava wrote, “Why should AAP be fielding candidates who are allegedly doing what AAP is questioning others for? What would then be the difference between AAP & others???”
But AAP spokesperson Ashutosh came out with a defence of the party in a blog published on NDTV's website.
"Shanti Bhushan has commented on ticket distribution, alleging it has been mishandled. Let me explain. AAP is unique. It has evolved a system in which to become a candidate, the person has to go through an elaborate layer of filters. And even after being selected, if there is any complaint, then it is referred to the Complaints Committee which holds a court, listens the arguments and the person concerned has to defend and explain his/her position. If the candidate emerges clean, he/she is cleared of all charges and continues with the party ticket.
The decision of the Complaints Committee can be challenged with the party Lokpal or ombudsman, whose decision is binding. This year, six candidates were challenged... Two of the six could not pass the rigors of the test and the party was advised to drop them…Shanti ji has also objected to some contestants, but if Lokpal did not find any merit in his complaints, then the party can't be faulted."
