When Kejriwal wanted to quit as AAP convener

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had tendered his resignation as party's National Convener in the National Executive meeting held on Thursday, party sources said, a move which was vehemently opposed by members.

The sources said Kejriwal was upset after a section of leaders raised the issue of him playing dual role of the Delhi Chief Minister and the party convener. Kejriwal is believed to have demanded more freedom to run the party.

The meet was held on Thursday and an informal meet continued until on Friday.

"In the National Executive meeting, Kejriwal had offered to resign, having become the chief minister. He had also sent a note and also conveyed his decision over the phone. The move was vehemently opposed by everyone, including Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. On the same night, NE members met Kejriwal and conveyed that they had rejected his proposal of quitting.

"A suggestion also came up to rejig the PAC, but a final decision will be taken by Arvind (Kejriwal)," said a senior party leader.

The party is also likely to rejig its all powerful Political Affairs Committee (PAC), amidst reports of friction between Kejriwal and senior party leader Yogendra Yadav.

A rejig in offing?

The rejig is likely to take place after the budget session of Delhi Legislative Assembly, which is slated to take place next week, but a final decision will be taken by Kejriwal in coming days.

The party sources said that after the rejig, specific responsibility will be given to the leaders and their roles will be defined.

All is not well within the party, the sources said, as differences have cropped up between senior party leaders especially over the candidate selection during the Delhi assembly election. Owing to this, Bhushan and Yadav were not attending the PAC.

The Delhi unit of AAP was unhappy about the opposition over the candidate selection process as it claimed that the party already had a strong filter to weed out candidates who don't meet the party standards.

AAP is not into such petty political games: Yogendra Yadav

Meanwhile, Yadav said no decision was taken to rejig the PAC. "As I said, there was a National Executive meeting, no such decision has taken place and about speculation, obviously I cannot respond. AAP is not into such petty political games that get played in other political parties.

"All the time I remember much bigger, which is millions, crores of people in this country have invested their hopes about changing the nature of politics in this small entity called aam aadmi party. We cannot play small, we have to respond to those hopes and we have to act to the best of our ability," Yadav said.

Following the NE meet, a three-member committee was constituted comprising party's national secretary Pankaj Gupta, Gopal Rai and Anand Kumar to talk to Kejriwal, Yadav and Bhushan and sort the issues.

Concerns were also raised about "leakages" by some leaders to the media, which was not good in taste for the party.

This is the not the first time that differences have cropped up between Yadav and Kejriwal. After the Lok Sabha debacle, Yadav had written a letter criticising Kejriwal of "falling prey to personality cult".

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Arvind Kejriwal freebies to cost Delhi Rs.1,700 crore more.

Twelve days after assuming power in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Wednesday brought out from its bag of promised goodies the first gifts: Free water and half the power bill for poorer households.

The government will provide 20,000 litres of free water per household with meter and the 50 per cent power tariff cut is applicable for consumption up to 400 units a month. But a pertinent worry is how it will manage the extra annual outflow of close to Rs.1,700 crore.

Economic experts feel the populist decisions will hasten the exchequer bleed dry and that it is a simple case of bad economics, especially when the city-state is already coping with a yawning deficit.

DJB tankerThe government has announced 20,000 litres of free water per household with meter.



The fact remains that Delhi's fiscal deficit in 2012-13, according to then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit herself, was Rs.2,921 crore. Though she claimed in that budget speech that the deficit would be narrowed down to Rs.1,268 crore in the next fisc, the budget estimates for 2013-14 showed it to be much higher at Rs.2060 crore.

There's no clarity on the 2014-15 fiscal deficit since the budget was not presented after Kejriwal succeeded Dikshit as the Chief Minister, and then bowed out after 49 days. Delhi's budget for 2014-15 was Rs.36,776 crore, as announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech in July last year.

Going by the trend, the latest decisions imply that the AAP government may find it hard to continue with the subsidies of Rs.1,427 crore on electricity and Rs.250 crore on water.

Consumption of electricityA 50 per cent power tariff cut has also been announced for consumption up to 400 units a month. 

"We will make provisions for it (subsidies) in the budget," is all Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia committed. Maintaining that the power situation will improve once CAG audits the discoms, he said: "We will review the subsidy scheme after seeing CAG's report on the discoms' financial health."

The decisions will come into effect on March 1 and benefit over 36.06 lakh families (around 90 per cent population) in the Capital, Sisodia claimed after a cabinet meeting that was chaired by Kejriwal. "The relief in electricity bills will continue even if the power regulator hikes the tariff," he added.



But there's a rider too: If the monthly consumption crosses 400 units, the consumer has to pay full charges from zero base. Similarly, water supply will be charged if the consumption exceeds 20,000 litres a month. There are about 21 lakh water consumers in Delhi, of which nearly 18 lakh have a metered connection.

Many critics have said giving out free water will encourage wastefulness in a country where water is already in short supply.

"We are trying to cover more people by installing water pipelines and meters. The scheme will also cover group housing societies. Sewer charges will also be withdrawn," Sisodia said. "None of the previous administrations made any effort to give cheap, affordable power and water to the people of Delhi. We do not make false promises…we are doing it just as promised," he added.

After the decisions were announced, Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi: "We have delivered on our promises. Electricity at half price and free water. We will fulfil other promises, just keep supporting us."

The populist decisions are the first since Kejriwal won power and fulfil the pledges he had made during the election campaign to help millions of the poorer families make ends meet. Cutting power tariff and providing free water were among the major election promises of AAP, which won a whopping 67 of the 70 seats in the House.

The city has seen a series of hike in power rates in the past few years.

The tariff was hiked by 22 per cent in 2011, followed by 5 per cent hike in February 2012. It again rose by up to 2 per cent in May 2012 and again by 26 per cent for domestic consumers in July 2012. It was hiked by up to 3 per cent in February 2013 and by 5 per cent in August last year. It was again enhanced up to 7 per cent in November 2014.

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3 Mistakes Of Arvind Kejriwal’s Political Life

The problem of a love-child born of street protests and anti-system demonstrations is excessive noise. Aam Aadmi Party and their leader Arvind Kejriwal, born after system apathy and growing corruption had caught popular imagination, has stayed true to the template by drawing attention to itself through rhetoric, reason and rising noise against the system. The party, though, seems to be in a mood for hara-kiri. Suffice to say that with the drubbing in the national elections, Kejriwal's stint in jail could have been entirely avoided. Here are the three mistakes of Kejriwal's life that should not have happened.

Leaving Delhi And Being Labelled Bhagoda

© BCCL

When people repose faith in you, you go out and serve them, not dump them. Lesson 101 of politics was lost on the entire party that decided to quit Delhi government on an issue of moral principle. Kejriwal forgot that politics is as much about bargaining for the best as it is about governing with a firm hand. In turn, AAP's credibility went south and the party could not do anything to stop itself from self-destructing in the elections that followed.

Challenging Narendra Modi In Varanasi

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Everybody loves a good underdog story but Arvind Kejriwal was no match for the Modi wave sweeping the country. Contesting against him in Varanasi made no sense as the party was hardly known outside Delhi and Punjab, where it had a following. While the media duly covered the battle between the two, people on the ground never really got a sense of Kejriwal as the party was fighting the elections on very thin resources that was organised at double-quick time across the country. Where Modi relied on Amit Shah to prepare Uttar Pradesh and Varanasi to be delivered to him, Kejriwal simply lacked the charm and drawing power of his competitor. His loss means that AAP will need to rework on its strategy and put up a brave face after facing a humiliating defeat.

Not Obeying The Law And Going To Tihar

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Lastly, over the last couple of days, Kejriwal has demonstrated that his street movement is still very much the DNA of his party. This is a wrong message to send to potential voters and supporters. A movement can be born on the ground but when people power it to Parliamentand State Assemblies, it does not befit politicians to rake the mud on trivial issues as giving up a bail bond of Rs 10,000, Worse, Kejriwal's actions suggest that he does not believe in the law as this was a court-related matter, not a political scandal. This is absolutely unacceptable and Kejriwal must learn that taking law and order in your hands is not the right way to win votes.

Kejriwal's cause in noble and his intentions correct but there needs to be a method to the madness instead of just madness. We hope somebody at the party hears us out and begins to act maturely from here on.

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