NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Former union minister and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Ajay Maken has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of spreading lies through the process of electioneering to promote itself, and said that the party is making bogus claims of good governance.
Addressing media at the Congress’ office in Panaji, Maken said that the AAP through its practice of electioneering is misleading the people of Goa as it tried earlier during polls in other states and in Delhi, including elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU).
“The AAP has been putting up posters of their vote percentage, which I have seen in Goa today. This has been a common electioneering practice of Kejriwal”, he stated.
However, he said despite riding on the same practice even during the MCD by-elections to 13 wards where the party claimed a clean sweep, AAP won only 5 wards. “AAP which had won 12 seats could manage to win only 5 seats. From 57.6 percentage vote share it came down to 29 percent in a matter of 14 months after coming to power in Delhi”, he added.
Stating that Kejriwal’s political career began with the India Against Corruption and its agenda of bringing in the Lokpal bill, the DPCC president said “The bill which they have passed in the Delhi Assembly, that too after a lot of demonstration and persuasions for eight months, is the weakest form of the Lokpal bill.”
He further said that Kejriwal has been going back on his own words, to keep the Lokpal out of the ambit of the government, and has made it mandatory for the Lokpal to seek prior approval of the Chief Minister to appoint an investigation officer for any case.
“The selection of the Lokpal (under the Delhi Lokpal act) is overtly done by a political panel. In addition, the power to remove the Lokpal vests only with the ruling party MLAs” Maken said stating that there is a vast contrast of speech and action by Kejriwal.
The former union minister further said that the people of Goa should very carefully weigh whatever Kejriwal claims as far as the Delhi model is concerned. He said “I would like to caution the people of Goa not to be hoodwinked or not to go by the antics of Kejriwal and commit the same mistakes as the people of Delhi did.”
Responding to Kejriwal’s claims that the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not let the AAP govern the state to its full potential, Maken a former Delhi cabinet minister said that Kejriwal’s main aim is to further his political ambitions. He stated that when the Congress ruled Delhi from 1998 to 2004, the Union Government was led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“When we could perform with the same set of rules, then why can’t they”, he questioned.