Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Social activist Anna Hazare, whose agitation against alleged corruption in the administration in 2011 had given birth to the Aam Aadmi Party, has blamed his one-time disciple Arvind Kejriwal’s party for the large scale desertion by its Rajya Sabha members.
The veteran activist placed the responsibility on the party leadership. “It is their (AAP leadership’s) fault. Had that party followed the right way, they would not have left,” Hazare said. “Had the party gone in the right direction, they would not have quit the party,” he added.
Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal were closely associated during the 2011 anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal worked alongside Hazare during protests and fasts held in Delhi. Hazare then had reportedly advised Kejriwal against forming a political party, but the former income tax officer wanted to take advantage of the anti-corruption movement to fulfil his political ambitions.
Hazare’s remarks came after Raghav Chadha and six other AAP members of the Rajya Sabha on Friday announced their decision to quit the AAP and join the BJP, a move that amounted to two‑thirds of the Arvind Kejriwal‑led party’s total strength in the Rajya Sabha breaking away and avoid any disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Mr Hazare said every individual has the right to take political decisions in a democracy and stressed that party leaderships must reflect on why leaders choose to leave. “Everyone has the right to hold an opinion in a democracy. They (Chadha and others) must have faced some trouble, which is why they left,” Hazare told reporters on Friday in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra.
Hazare further said there were always underlying reasons behind a political decision to leave a party, and these must be seen in the larger democratic context. “There must be some or the other reason (for their leaving AAP). In a democracy, every person has a view about where to stay and leave,” Hazare said.
While Chadha accused the AAP of corruption as the deciding factor behind his exit, the party termed the move a “betrayal” of the people of Punjab. Chadha was sent to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.
In a press conference a day earlier, the 37‑year‑old leader quit the AAP, levelling serious corruption charges against the party leadership. “I gave the AAP 15 years of my life. Now the party has stepped away from honest politics. I am moving away and going close to the people. Today, the AAP is corrupt and compromised. It is not the old party. I don’t want to engage in the wrongdoings of AAP,” he said.
Chadha’s joining the BJP followed a major controversy earlier this month, after the AAP removed him as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, a move that brought their rift into the open. The party had also requested the Rajya Sabha Chairman that Chadha should not be allotted time from the party’s quota to speak in the House. Chadha later confronted the move through video messages, calling it a “scripted campaign” and a “coordinated action” against him.
Surprisingly for Mr Kejriwal, the person who welcomed him in his house once as a sign of loyalty ended up betraying him the day he left the house. Ashok Mittal, who quit AAP to join BJP on Thursday with Chadha, had hosted Kejriwal and his family at his official residence – the 5 Ferozeshah Road near Mandi House in Delhi – shortly after the former Chief Minister resigned in 2024 following his release on bail in the excise policy case. Mittal was allocated the bungalow owing to his position as a Rajya Sabha MP.
On Friday, Kejriwal moved out of Mittal’s house and shifted into the type-VII government bungalow in Lodhi Estate – the residence allotted to him by the Centre on account of his being the head of a national party. Hours later, Kejriwal was dealt a major blow when Mittal resigned from his party and joined its rival, the BJP – a move that could seem like a betrayal to the AAP supremo.
There have been reports of growing tensions within the AAP, including differences with the party leadership over various issues.
M Kejriwal reportedly had made last-ditch efforts to stall the desertion. Sources said Mr Kejriwal had promised to give five of the six members ticket for the next term. He had also called the MPs to his house on Friday evening to discuss the matter. But the meeting never took place as the MPs announced their departure hours earlier.
