Why the problems of AAP give Congress, BJP a lifeline in Delhi

Sting operation on AAP candidates is bad news for the party in its maiden election

With Delhi voting less than two weeks away on December 4, a Tehelka-like revelation exploded on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with a footage apparently showing key leaders including well-known faces such as Shazia Ilmi and Kumar Vishwas were ready to accept donations sans receipts.The AAP is in the throes of a new internal debate: does it continue with the controversial leaders and risk losing votes or is it prudent to stick up for ‘tainted’ members? How Arvind Kejriwal is going to convince electorates that the AAP is truly a party with a difference?

On Friday, senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav tried to put up a brave face by asserting that the footage is doctored and tampered, there is no authenticity in footage of the CD. Yadav has alleged that this is an effort to dent the clean and honest image of the party.

 

RK Puram candidate Ilmi was heard speaking to an undercover reporter and agreeing to accept donation in cash without identifying the donor. Her personal assistant was also heard suggesting ways in which the cash donation can be utilised without identifying donors on the AAP website. The sting operation, conducted by Media Sarkar, alleged several leaders of AAP, who were contacted for their help in recovery of money from individuals and getting land deals done, readily agreed to extend their support in return for donations in cash to the party. The video came as a setback for AAP which is already embroiled in a controversy over charges of illegal foreign funding.

 

The allegations though could adversely affect the clean image that Kejriwal has been projecting about himself and his party. Kejriwal is in politics at present and he should recall that two former Prime Ministers — Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao — had corruption charges levelled at them. They paid the price through defeats in elections and in Rao’s case by being consigned to political oblivion. In politics, it is important not only to be honest but also to be seen to be honest.  

 

However, Ilmi’s immediate offer to withdraw her candidature from Delhi elections has conveyed the impression that the AAP is not going to get involved in either a cover-up or an attempt to brazen it out.  Kejriwal faces an unenviable position as he cannot afford to have the touch of tar on key members' reputations. Analysts say that this is not the time to look crestfallen: quick and forthright action against the guilty is the need of the hour. 

 

At a time when the embattled AAP is under fire, all this is music to Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ears. When the chips are down and the AAP badly needs to find a face-saving compromise formula, a possible BJP agenda is to keep the heat on the AAP, dent Kejriwal’s image further and derive political mileage in the run up to the Assembly elections. "Exposure of AAP party... avarice is the root of all evils," tweeted BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

The BJP has solved its internal feuds and reached a consensus on choosing Harsh Vardhan as its candidate for the Chief Minister's post. Undoubtedly, the saffron party’s midway course correction in discarding Vijay Goel and replacing him with Harsh Vardhan was a direct consequence of the AAP’s spirited quest for ethical politics.

 

On Monday, social activist Anna Hazare asked Kejriwal, whose AAP is contesting the polls with corruption as its main plank,  to explain how funds from their 2011 anti-corruption agitation were spent, appearing to hint at possible misuse. Hazare also questioned the use of his name in the campaign. Hazare also wondered how Kejriwal is talking about passing the Lokpal bill if his party comes to power. “The Lokpal bill has to be passed by Parliament, not the Delhi Assembly,” Hazare said in a letter to the AAP boss Kejriwal. Hazare and Kejriwal parted ways over the question of anti-graft movement taking political course. The veteran Gandhian wasn’t in favour of stepping into politics. 

 

The AAP chief claimed absolute honesty and declared he would quit the polls if indicted in a probe. Till date, the AAP has collected over Rs 20 crore through donations and has said the sum is enough.  The AAP think tank believes the charges could raise serious doubts in the minds of voters and spoil the momentum the party has gathered in the campaign. With so much talk about ‘misuse’ of funds and the latest sting operation against the party, people might start thinking that AAP is no different from others.

 

The party has built its campaign on the plank of ridding Delhi of both the Congress and the BJP. Political observers feel that the BJP would have swept the December 4 polls but for the AAP, which has turned a direct contest into a three-way fight.  What seems to have worried the Congress party is the AAP’s inroads into its traditional constituency of the poor and migrants, contrary to the earlier perception that Kejriwal’s appeal was restricted to apolitical elite. The AAP generated a lifeline for the Sheila Dikshit government because of the likely division of anti-incumbency votes. 

 

The Election Commission has sought explanation from AAP mascot Kejriwal for appealing to Muslims on religious lines. “In Delhi, BJP is a communal party. Till today, Muslims do not have an alternative. Now the Muslims have an honest and secular alternative,” Kejriwal said in a pamphlet distributed during campaign in various parts of the city. Conventional wisdom suggests that the transition from a socio-political movement to a political party can be extremely troublesome.