Rivals rubbish Kejri's boast, his term wasn't Ram Rajya

In the coming Assembly elections, the voters will decide whether the 49-day tenure of AAP leader and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was ideal or not, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said on Wednesday.

Reacting to Kejriwal likening his brief stint in chief minister’s office as ‘Ram (ideal) Rajya (rule)’, Upadhyay said the voters will decide whether they liked his rule or disliked his act of quitting office in a haste.

People will tell whether it was ‘Ram Rajya’ or ‘Bhogada Rajya’ (Quitter’s rule) , the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief said.

Upadhyay said the AAP tried to woo voters during the Lok Sabha elections with a similar pitch that Kejriwal gave the best administration in Delhi but we know how they failed to convince the voters.

The Delhi BJP chief also gave details of the plans for organising a rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ramlila Maidan on January 10. The national BJP chief Amit Shah had announced on Tuesday the party’s the final plan on Modi’s first election rally in the city.

The ‘Abhinandan Rally’, to be held at Ramlila Maidan, will also be addressed by Shah and other senior party leaders.

Cong joins in
Kejriwal’s statement likening his brief stay in power as ‘Ram Rajya’ drew sharp reaction from the Congress party too.

Congress leaders Sheila Dikshit, J P Aggarwal and Barkha Shukla Singh criticised the former Delhi chief minister saying that he ran away from his responsibilities leaving the capital in a poor condition.

Kejriwal made the controversial remark at a rally in Old Delhi on Tuesday even as he tried to justify his decision to quit as chief minister.

A day before, he had courted another controversy by calling discounts given by e-commerce sites a ‘scam’.

The AAP national convener was addressing a rally of traders at a Nehru Place market in South Delhi.

Taking side of the traders hit by online stores, he had said, “We are not against online sites. But if an item bought for Rs 20 is sold for Rs 18, it means that some scam is going on somewhere.”

Following his statement, the AAP on Wednesday was seen in a damage control mode.
Party leader Meera Sanyal on Twitter said, “AAP unequivocally supports and encourages startups/e-commerce companies. We will help simplify rules to start new co’s online within 7 days!”

“AAP encourages business but opposes cronies & corrupt practices. Predatory pricing is unscrupulous & harms customers & honest entrepreneurs,” she said in another post.
Sanyal is part of the AAP’s Delhi Dialogue team which has been tasked to prepare party’s blueprint for making the capital into a world class city.