Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Kejriwal should go for re-election' that was published in Newsband

Kejriwal should go for re-election

The Aam Aadmi Party is now the second largest party in a hung Assembly in Delhi. AAP has grown without the traditional building blocks of caste and communal vote banks and won support in the election on the basis of a campaign against both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. With the BJP expressing its inability to form a government, it is the turn of the AAP now to explore the possibilities of giving Delhi a government with a difference. Kejriwal is justified in wanting to keep a distance from both the BJP and the Congress.

Both Arvind Kejriwal and AAP have impressed the Indians by their principled stand. Now if Kejriwal chooses to accept support of either Congress or BJP to form the government in Delhi, then their clean image will be affected and this can affect their chances considerably in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Kejriwal and his men should now make a decision by keeping 2014 election in mind.

Kejriwal is an honest man and he naturally is appearing too demanding and not very intent on forming a government. The AAP leader seems bent on seeking a fresh mandate without trying his best to make the present mandate work.

How can AAP join hands with Congress when it was the UPA's corruption that dethroned it in Delhi in the first place? Bharatiya Janata Party too is no saint. They have proved it when they were the rulers in the past. Hence accepting support from either of these two parties will affect AAP’s image.  

There are people who say that the re-election will cost a lot of money. Election/Re-Election expenses are trivial when compared to the amount of money we lose in corrupt practices. So, Re-Election costs are the price we should not mind paying to get a honest government to rule us.  

Re-election is the best option and people need to elect AAP with more majority which they will. Joining hands with BJP and Congress will make AAP appear as if they too are become corrupt and the hopes of the Indians of getting a clean government will be dashed.

Both Congress and BJP are full of seasoned politicians. They are too clever and would do anything to defame Kejriwal and his party once his party forms the government with the help of either of them. It is possible that these two parties just want to nip the bud in initial stages. Hence Kejriwal should seek a fresh mandate from people who are showing all the likelihood of electing his party if there is a re-election. Giving 'unconditional' support could be a strategy devised by both the traditional parties BJP and Congress so as to make AAP weak on principles while going for Lok Sabha polls.

Kejriwal is not a politician. He has yet to become one. AAP exists for its principles, not for petty political gains. Kejriwal has been challenging the standard political styles. He should live up to this image at least till the 2014 election.