The party which came to power boasting of a clean image and promising to root out corruption in politics, ended up falling prey to a lot of controversies after all. In the past two years, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has repeatedly made headlines, from the dharnas held by CM Arvind Kejriwal to the sex scandal and fake degree cases plaguing ministers of the Delhi government. As the AAP government completes two years in Delhi, we look at some of the major controversies that the party got engulfed in:
CM Arvind Kejriwal vs Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung
The tussle between the Delhi CM and the Lt. Governor began even before the AAP government took office in 2015. The two could never see eye-to-eye on any issue, be it decisions on appointments, police, public order or land. When the tussle got out of hand, even the judiciary had to get involved to resolve the fight between these two executives, but to no avail. Najeeb Jung finally ended up resigning from his position on December 22, 2016.
Gajendra Singh suicide
The AAP government faced severe criticism when a farmer from Rajasthan committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree during a rally in Delhi in April 2015. He was protesting against the Delhi government's land bill. CM Kejriwal was criticised for not stopping his speech even after the death of the Gajendra Singh. Delhi Police had also questioned AAP leaders Ashish Khetan, Kumar Vishwas and Bhagwant Mann, asking what precautions senior leaders had taken when the farmer was climbing the tree.
Jitender Singh Tomar's 'fake degree' case
While on one hand CM Arvind Kejriwal was pointing fingers at PM Modi over his degree, on the other hand, the law minister of his government was accused of forging his LLB degree. The incident left Kejriwal red-faced because he had defended Tomar saying that the allegations were false and baseless. However, Tomar was later expelled from the party and is facing trial in the fake degree case.
Delhi police vs CM Kejriwal
Right from calling the Delhi police derogatory terms such as 'thullas' to referring to them as 'agents of the Central government', the fight between CM Kejriwal and Delhi police goes back to his Anna Hazare agitation days. Even during AAP's first 49-day government stint, Kejriwal held a dharna against the Delhi police by sleeping on Rajpath, seeking action against them in the case of midnight raids conducted by then Law minister Somnath Bharti. Later, he wanted control over Delhi police by claiming that he cannot handle the law and order situation in the capital when the police reported to the Central government.
Parliamentary secretaries issue
The appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries became a controversy because it was considered an office of profit. However, it was just another example of the AAP vs BJP tussle. The AAP government received a major setback in this case after President Pranab Mukherjee refused to give his assent to the proposed legislation and the Delhi High Court too revoked the appointment.
Sandeep Kumar sex scandal
A controversial CD involving former Social Welfare and Women and Child Development Minister of Delhi Sandeep Kumar emerged in August 2016. The CD showed Kumar in a compromising position with two women, and he was booked for rape after one of the women lodged a complaint against him. Kumar was later permanently suspended from the party and arrested by Delhi Police.
AAP's lavish advertisement spends
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was accused of spending around Rs 526 crore on radio advertisements over one financial year. Congress leader Ajay Maken had said that there was more than 20% hike in AAP's spending on advertisements as compared to the previous year. They were also attacked by the Opposition on the grounds that "self publicity" amounted to corruption. The advertisements ran on the tagline 'Jo Kaha, So Kiya' referring to AAP's pre-poll promises and the measures taken by government to implement them.
Last month, Yogendra Yadav, a former AAP leader, levelled fresh allegations against AAP stating that they had spent Rs 30 lakh on advertisements for student loans' scheme. However, only three students had received Rs 3.15 lakh till December 2016.
Raid on Principal Secretary's office
In a no-holds-barred attack on the Centre, Kejriwal had called PM Modi a 'psychopath' and Arun Jaitley a 'liar' after a raid was conducted in December 2015. However, the CBI said that the raid was conducted on Delhi Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar's office and not that of the CM. In March 2016, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to return documents taken from Kejriwal's office. However, the Centre on February 15, 2017, rejected Kumar's application for voluntary retirement and asked CBI to prosecute him in a corruption case.
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 "Arvind Kejriwal Reuters")
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