Throwing his hat in the ring, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that he will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election as his party wants him to, but added that he was “too small to become Prime Minister”.
Earlier, Mr. Kejriwal had declared that he was not in the fray for general elections. “Personally I did not want to contest Lok Sabha polls, but the party feels that I should. I will, therefore, contest, not to become Prime Minister but to establish swaraj in the country,’’ he told CNN-IBN in an interview.
Sources told The Hindu that he might contest from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency.
Ready for Congress to withdraw support
As his government prepares to initiate action against those involved in corruption relating to the Delhi Jal Board and the Commonwealth Games during the previous Sheila Dikshit government, the Delhi Chief Minister indicated that he was ready to face withdrawal of support by the Congress to his government.
The Congress will regret the suo motu support it extended and the BJP was getting “nightmares” about facing AAP in the Lok Sabha elections, he said.
What if Congress withdraws support? “If the government falls, we are ready for it. We did not ask for Congress support. We’ve never spoken to them even on phone. The day we got a letter from the Lt. Governor to form government our Political Affairs Committee met and decided not to form government but by evening the Congress had on its own given its letter of support to the LG. After that we met the LG and sought 10 days’ time during which we went back to the people,’’ he said.
On his government’s face-off with the Delhi police, he said the police, which is controlled by the central government, must come under the Delhi government. “We are not like the Sheila Dikshit government. We know how to deal with the police.’’
He said rebel MLA Vinod Kumar Binny, who has been served a notice for indiscipline, was free to leave the party. “Why Binny, we have told all our MLAs that if they are greedy about a position or Lok Sabha ticket they are free to leave the party. This party is not like others.’’
Asked about the decision to put up candidates on over 400 seats without even a proper organisation or structure in the country, he said the way people were joining the party, he foresaw a “wave’’ for AAP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
On former colleague Kiran Bedi criticising his government, he said she was following Narendra Modi's agenda.
