Joined politics to serve city: Kiran Bedi

Accepting full responsibility for the BJP's crushing defeat in the Delhi assembly elections, the party's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi Monday said she opted for politics "not for position or power but for serving the city".

The former Indian Police Service officer also said: "Am relieved my parents were not alive to hear the foul words hurled at me."

The Aam Aadmi Party swept the elections, winning 67 of the total 70 seats. Bedi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's choice for chief minister against AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, herself lost the Krishna Nagar constituency to a little-known lawyer, S.K. Bagga, by 2,277 votes.

Sharing her thoughts about the election campaign in a blog post titled "An open letter to fellow Indians", she said: "I opted for electoral politics not for position or power but for serving the city which is my home for last over 40 years. A city which I have served in various capacities, though thick and thin. I saw it through various challenges, international sports events, VIP security, political upheavals, communal riots, agitations, and more..."

"I stepped into electoral politics because I wanted to give my city all I still had, when I was given the feeling that I could be of value. I wanted to see it get a stable government in alignment with Government of India to get all that Delhi needed."

She claimed full responsibility for the defeat. She wrote: "I have failed the test. And take full responsibility for my decision. But inside me has not failed. Because given the time I gave to myself I gave it all the energy and experience I had. Obviously it was not enough."