New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had faced a full fledged coup from within his party after the BJP’s big victory in the recent MCD polls. The AAP leadership now has “irrefutable evidence” that the national BJP leadership had remote controlled an elaborate plan to effect a change of leadership within the AAP legislative party and take over the Delhi government through water minister Kapil Mishra and Kumar Vishwas.
Mishra was to be projected as the new chief minister after a bloodless coup and Vishwas was to be made national convener. Kejriwal was alerted in time by some MLAs and a young officer on special duty working in the office of Mishra, after which the attempted coup was thwarted by the chief minister’s swift actions.
One legislator called Vishwas on the phone in Kejriwal’s presence and was told by Vishwas that 34 MLAs were already on board to effect a change of leadership and only a couple more were needed to get a majority in the assembly. Of course, this turned out to be a somewhat exaggerated claim as most of these MLAs were sitting on the fence waiting to see how far Mishra succeeds in his game. The officer on special duty in the water minister’s office also gave some critical inputs to Kejriwal. Armed with this evidence, Kejriwal confronted Vishwas who was quick to deny being part of the attempted coup. Once Vishwas stepped back, the overall plan began to unravel and most of the 34 MLAs pledged allegiance to Kejriwal.
However, Kejriwal is under no illusion that his problems are over and believes he has won the battle only temporarily. Sources close to him say he is convinced that the Centre and BJP leadership will make further attempts to create dissension within his party, something Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have tried in other states like Assam and Odhisa.
Kejriwal may seem more vulnerable especially after the the BJP’s impressive victories in the UP assembly polls and the big win in the Delhi municipal election. The tendency of opportunistic politicians to align themselves closer to the BJP is more than ever before. As it is the Delhi chief minister’s legitimacy has been eroded by the de facto governor’s rule in the state as important files are not being put up before him or other ministers and are instead being cleared by the lieutenant governor. Indeed, this provides ideal conditions for the BJP to effect a coup from within rather than try some messy way of splitting the AAP and lure MLAs to join the BJP. This strategy may create sympathy for Kejriwal. On the other hand, a coup within the AAP will be seen as Kejriwal’s own failure to keep his flock together. After the BJP’s victory in the MCD polls, the Centre seems to have decided not to press ahead with certain matters that had relevance until the elections. For instance, the Centre’s law officer formally hinted in a court recently that the lieutenant governor would not insist on AAP returning Rs 97 crores of the Delhi government funds used for political advertising by the party. The Centre’s law officer has said it was a mere advisory and not a mandatory order. This gesture also shows the Centre does not want to be seen as creating problems for the AAP. It would rather depend on a covert strategy to ensure that AAP implodes on its own.
What could be Kejriwal’s strategy from here on? Sources say he will play for time and try to focus on consolidating his hold over the party in Delhi. This will not be easy because he knows the BJP is out to destroy his reputation and the Congress is tacitly happy about it. The charge by Mishra that Kejriwal received Rs 2 crores from another minister is a direct attack on his reputation. Of course, Kejriwal has successfully countered this by asserting that the dozen or more CCTV cameras in his office have not recorded Mishra’s entry on the day he claims to have personally witnessed the exchange of money.
Kejriwal is now fighting with his back to the wall. In the past he has shown that he does fight well when cornered. Will he be able to repeat his past performance? He may have to play it differently now. There is a realisation within the top leadership of the AAP that it should move away from personally attacking Modi all the time and focus on issues where the BJP might be very vulnerable. Part of Kejriwal’s fresh strategy will be to coordinate such efforts with other non-Congress opposition parties to create a common front. Party sources said the AAP would now also be reaching out to other political parties to join forces on major issues such as unemployment and farm distress. In this regard, it has already begun sending out feelers. But the AAP is also aware that opposition unity is constrained by CBI and Enforcement Directorate investigations against leaders of various opposition parties, including that of AAP.
—As Published in The Wire
