Kejriwal gave tickets to vote buyers: Shanti Bhushan

AAP's founder-member today accused Arvind Kejriwal of accepting 'tainted' money

AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal in a cheerful mood with party volunteers at a meeting in New Delhi on Monday, a day before counting of votes for Delhi polls.
Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Feb 11 2015 | 8:30 PM IST
Notwithstanding AAP's stupendous victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, the party's founder- member Shanti Bhushan today attacked Arvind Kejriwal yet again, accusing him of accepting "tainted" money and giving tickets to candidates who were prepared to buy votes.

He also alleged that the AAP chief had "abandoned" all principles of inner party democracy and asked the party to "apply course correction" and come back to the path of clean politics.

"He gave a large number of tickets to people who had amassed a lot of wealth by questionable means and were prepared to buy votes by distributing money and liquor," Bhushan wrote in a blog.

"He (Kejriwal) also accepted tainted money and abandoned all principles of inner party democracy," Bhushan said.

Later, he told reporters that he was not happy with the party's spectacular win in the elections, saying the electorate did not apply their mind to the allegations.

"It is important for the party to apply course correction and come back to the path of totally clean politics which people believe it continues to stand for," Bhushan said.

He said even Kejriwal must be "regretting" his decision to field those candidates under the belief that "people like them could win elections".

"My advice to Kejriwal is not to make any of those 15-20 shady people ministers," he added.

In the midst of election campaign last month, Bhushan had called for Kejriwal's removal as the party chief in "due course" and termed BJP's move to field Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial nominee a "masterstroke".

Bhushan, who has been critical of Kejriwal for past several months, said Bedi's contribution to the Anna-led anti- graft movement was significant and even supported her comments praising RSS.
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First Published: Feb 11 2015 | 8:29 PM IST

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