The AAP today nominated senior party leader Sanjay Singh and two little-known faces, Sushil Gupta, a Delhi-based businessman with past links with the Congress and ND Gupta, a veteran chartered accountant, as its Rajya Sabha nominees.
The AAP today nominated senior party leader Sanjay Singh and two little-known faces, Sushil Gupta, a Delhi-based businessman with past links with the Congress and ND Gupta, a veteran chartered accountant, as its Rajya Sabha nominees.
The nomination of Sushil Gupta caused consternation among some circles, with rival leaders of BJP and Congress and former members accusing AAP of forgetting its ‘anti-corruption’ plank.
Disgruntled AAP rebel Kapil Mishra interestingly had tweeted about Sushil Gupta’s nomination as early as 24 December 2017 with a screenshot of an article which said that Gupta had routed money through MLA Shiv Nagar Goyal.
He had written: "Save this image for the day AAP will declare its Rajyasabha choices."
Yogendra Yadav, who had a fallout with Kejriwal wrote on Twitter: “I used to say, whatever his other faults @ArvindKejriwal cannot be bought. Defended him against Kapil Mishra’s allegations. Now I don’t know what to say. Speechless, ashamed and numb.”
Meanwhile, Prashant Bhushan wrote: “AAP giving Rajya Sabha tickets to people who have not distinguished themselves in public service&have no expertise on anything to qualify for the RS, by ignoring the voices of volunteers, is the final denouement of a party which started with such promise & is now totally degenerate.
Mayank Gandhi another former AAP member wrote for News 18: “On 28th November, 2017, Sushil Gupta quit Congress and joined AAP. And without much ado, the party selected him to be their candidate for the Rajya Sabha. Any person who thinks with logic and sense can figure out why this has happened — money must have exchanged hands.”
He further wrote: “Nominations for the Rajya Sabha only show that the party, in all its wisdom, must have thought that they could get money by selling the Rajya Sabha seat—which is what has happened here. And they need money to fight elections in the future.”
56-year-old Sushil Gupta, who unsuccessfully contested the 2012 Delhi Assembly polls on a Congress ticket, has declared assets running into over Rs 160 crore.
Sushil Gupta, who runs a chain of private and charitable schools and identified himself as an agriculturalist in the 2013 poll affidavit, quit the Congress on November 28, 2017.
Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken tweeted that Sushil Gupta knew about his possible nomination as early as November.
Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken claimed that Sushil Gupta came to him to tender his resignation and told him beforehand that he had been promised a Rajya Sabha berth by the AAP.
"On 28th Nov, Sushil Gupta came to submit his resignation- I asked him-'Why'? 'I have been promised Rajya Sabha(seat)'- was his reply," Maken said in a tweet.
Maaken also mocked Kejriwal for the choice of the AAP's Rajya Sabha nominees.
"Kejriwalji- you had joined politics to change it- you (AAP) have taken so much political colour? you took one from Congress and one from BJP," Maken tweeted in Hindi.
"Otherwise, Sushil is a good man known for his charity!" the Congress leader tweeted.
The decision taken by the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the AAP was greeted with scorn and disbelief by many party leaders and a barrage of criticism by the likes of Kumar Vishwas who dubbed himself a "martyr", saying he was ignored for the Upper House for speaking against Arvind Kejriwal.
At the PAC meeting, senior leader Ashutosh, believed to be among the upper house hopefuls, red-flagged the billionaire businessman's nomination. He was the only one among the nine PAC members to have raised an objection.
Before the PAC meeting at Kejriwal's residence, around 56 AAP MLAs met the chief minister. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed the MLAs unanimously endorsed the candidates, however, sources said there were disagreements.
Several came out sporting downcast faces and went scurrying for their vehicles, avoiding the media persons gathered outside.
"Arvind Kejriwal wanted three eminent personalities to represent Delhi in the upper house. Accordingly, we got in touch with 18 such persons from various fields including the media, academics, law.
"However, a few among them politely declined saying joining the RS on a party ticket may affect their independence. The rest said identifying with AAP may prompt the Centre to ruin their lives. So we went for a mix and nominated those who may not be of high-level but with significant contributions," Sisodia told a press conference.
Kumar Vishwas, who is a PAC member, was not present in the meeting. Immediately after the announcement made by Sisodia, Vishwas lashed out at Kejriwal, saying he was being punished for speaking the "truth".
The poet-politician also charged that around one and half years ago, Kejriwal had in a party's national executive meet said with a smile, "We will finish you, but we will not let you be a martyr."
"I want to congratulate (Kejriwal) that I have accepted my martyrdom," he told reporters at his residence.
The Opposition BJP and former AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan also criticised the AAP's decision.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari hit out at Kejriwal, saying the AAP has "betrayed" the people by nominating "two businessmen" for the polls to the upper house.
Yadav suggested that the AAP has struck financial deals with Sushil Gupta. "I used to say, whatever his other faults @ArvindKejriwal cannot be bought. Defended him against Kapil Mishra s allegations. Now I don't know what to say.
Speechless, ashamed and numb."
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, former union minister Arun Shourie, ex-Chief Justice of India T S Thakur are among the personalities the AAP had reached out to for RS nominations.
Elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi would be held on January 16 as the terms of the incumbent members, Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Parvez Hashmi all from the Congress end on January 27.
The AAP, which enjoys a brute majority in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, is set to win all three seats.
The last date to file nominations for the three Rajya Sabha seats is January 5.
With inputs from PTI
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