Barely two weeks before the Assembly elections, the AAP found itself facing criticism from one of its own again. Senior leader and founder member Shanti Bhushan said the AAP needed a “reorientation” and praised the BJP for choosing Kiran Bedi as their chief ministerial candidate. Bhushan said “if Arvind had strayed from his path, then Bedi would be the better choice for chief minister”. He, however, clarified that he would have preferred that Bedi had joined the AAP. “The AAP offered her the chief minister’s position a year ago, it has been said. This means that Arvind himself thought that she was a good candidate. But she turned it down. Perhaps, she always was pro-BJP,” Bhushan said. Calling the decision to field Bedi as the CM candidate a “masterstroke”, Bhushan said, “Kiran Bedi’s announcement as chief ministerial candidate is a victory for the Anna Andolan. Even the BJP has realised that they need a person who has fought against corruption. Many people in the BJP must be annoyed with the decision, but they had to bring her and she is a good choice.” Bhushan said the AAP seemed to have forgotten the principles it began with. Responding to the comments, Kejriwal said, “We have a lokpal within the party that only recently took a decision to replace two candidates. His comments go on to prove that the party has internal democracy.” Shanti Bhushan’s son Prashant Bhushan also distanced himself from his father’s comments. “I do not agree with Shanti Bhushan’s view about Kiran Bedi. She always said she would not join politics,” he said.
