Politicians irked by Kejriwal's remarks

Issue to come up during Budget session: BJP

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal courted controversy after his statement terming parliamentarians as “robbers”, “murderers” and “rapists” invited politicians’ ire on Sunday.

Addressing a public awakening programme in Greater Noida, a Delhi suburb, Kejriwal said “all types of unsocial elements, including robbers, murders and rapists, have overpowered Parliament. How can we expect a Jan Lokpal Bill.

“The fight would be to overhaul Parliament’s character, which has become a big problem for us — the people of India,” Kejriwal said.

“We should have no illusions about any change happening after the elections. The final outcome will be that the public would be defeated. Now, the fight initiated to bring the Jan Lokpal bill has been widened to change the entire system,” he added. Slamming the BJP, Kejriwal said the saffron party was no different from other parties. He said it (BJP) did nothing to check corruption in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.

“All the parties are fighting for their share in the loot,” he said.

Kejriwal’s outburst against the parliamentarians forced the BJP, which has been trying to grab the political advantage by campaigning for Jan Lokpal, to come out strongly against the statement.

“It could be seen as an attempt to denigrate Parliament. MPs will raise this matter during the upcoming budget session. People who denigrate Parliament are denigrating democracy,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Jawdekar.

“These remarks are an insult to Parliament, which would weaken the democracy,” said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said Kejriwal’s comments are nothing but to denigrate Parliament.

In a statement on Sunday, Kejriwal said he stands by his statement. He referred to the criminal record of MPs and cited corruption cases against Suresh Kalmadi, Kanimozhi, Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Singh.

“Had the CBI been independent, Chidambaram would have been facing corruption case,” he said.