Following the furore over the release of a CD purportedly showing now-sacked AAP Minister Sandeep Kumar in an “objectionable position”, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal released a video statement in claiming the moral high road for the AAP government.
In the video, Kejriwal accused Sandeep Kumar of betraying the movement and the country, whose greatest hope today was the AAP, by committing such wrong acts. Supporters of the movement had not made sacrifices, given up jobs, trades and suffered ruin to their families, so that a person could do such things after becoming a minister, he said.
Despite a three-stage scrutiny of candidates when giving tickets over their image and their history, he said, some cases may have slipped through. Or it may happen that a person has not had the opportunity to commit wrongdoings until he becomes a minister, he said.
Invoking the image of a child gone astray, Kejriwal said that even with our own sons, “what they will do after they grow up. Will he commit wrong acts or won’t he?”
People may ask what is the difference between AAP and other parties if such people are coming into the AAP too, he said, asserting that the difference was in the promptness of the party’s action against tainted persons.
“So far we have taken action against four persons. On one hand, it saddens me that such people were among us. But on the other hand it gives me pride that, unlike other parties, we didn’t try to cover it up, we didn’t try to justify or save them. We undertook a proper inquiry and action against them,” he said.
“This is the difference between AAP and other parties. In AAP there are no compromises in any circumstances. We will dissolve the party, die, and be forgotten, but we will not compromise with wrongdoing.”
Taking examples of prominent politicians of the BJP, Congress and the Akali Dal, Kejriwal claimed that though many of them have been accused of corruption, these parties work to protect these politicians instead of taking action against them.
“If I can take action against my people, against our ministers, then you can be sure that any other person who indulges in corruption, we will take action against him,” he asserted, adding that such action would be taken against anyone, including himself, if any wrongdoing should be proved against him.