Cong, AAP attack govt over Bedi at R-Day function

Congress and AAP today raised objections over BJP's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi being seated in the VVIP enclosure at the front row during the Republic Day function here, saying that it was gross misuse of power and Election Commission should look into the matter.
"It is a right of every citizen to be there, but for her to be seated in the VVIP enclosure in the front row raises serious questions. What qualifies her to be there at the front row when senior leaders of Opposition and former ministers were relegated to the third-fifth rows?" senior Congress leader Anand Sharma asked.

He also termed it "brazen and cynical misuse of power" and pointed out that public national broadcasters repeatedly focused on her and that ECI should take note of it.
When asked if his party would take up the matter with the ECI, he said, "I hope that our party does. It is a valid ground to go to EC."
AAP's Atishi Marlena said that by not inviting the former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP-led government has made it a "partisan Republic Day".
"After all it is the nation's Republic Day. It is not one party's Republic Day and what the BJP has done by inviting Bedi and not Kejriwal, who is a former CM, is that they have made it a partisan Republic Day," she said.

She further alleged that the government was using the public broadcasters before the elections almost as a campaign strategy.

"This is classic misuse of power," she added.
Earlier, Bedi had mocked Kejriwal for "playing sob sob" over not being invited on the occasion.
"I think he is playing sob sob. I think he must grow up. Invitations come not when you desire. They come by something else, but they are never demanded. They come by rules and regulations, by protocols whatever it is," Bedi told a TV channel.