The BJP's latest mission is to capture power in Delhi. The induction of Kiran Bedi into the saffron party has created a lot of interest and speculation as to how this is going to affect the BJP’s prospects in Delhi.
Kiran Bedi in all likelihood will be pitted against Arvind Kejriwal and many term this is as yet another master stroke by Amit Shah.
Kiran is likely to attract voters from the middle-class and Punjabis who constitute a large segment of Delhi’s population.
Women especially might vote for the BJP because of her. At the same time, there are many seniors in the BJP who are quite irritated with Kiran Bedi becoming the darling of the BJP overnight when they have been rendering yeoman services to the Party in Delhi over the years. They might not wholeheartedly support her in the coming elections and it is this group that Amit Shah is seriously watching out for.
But ultimately, it is the slum dwellers and economically weaker sections in Delhi who can influence the outcome of the elections and this is where Arvind Kejriwal has a slight advantage over the BJP.
Kejriwal has consistently focused on this group over the years whereas the BJP has been unable to make any headway in this segment.
So, the Delhi battle might be summed up as a battle between two opportunists, Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi.
Kejriwal made use of Anna Hazare’s agitation to propel himself into the limelight. After saying that he would never enter politics, he started the ‘Aam Aadmi Party’.
Dubbing the BJP and Congress as the worst ever Parties in India, he promptly refused to endorse any Party and contested on his own. Then he vowed never to take the support of either BJP or Congress and was quick to enlist the support of Congress for forming the government. And hardly two months after taking over as CM, he ran away from the battlefield badly letting down the people of Delhi.
It is no different with Kiran Bedi either, the queen of controversies. She is also guilty of using Anna Hazare to attract attention. Kiran Bedi was alleged to have charged her hosts full fare for air tickets despite her paying discounted fare. She was also alleged to have charged her hosts business class fare while flying economy class and presenting false invoices.
Bedi was also accused by an NGO of claiming business class fare from Delhi to Mumbai, while her travel itinerary communicated to them showed she was flying from nearby Pune. Bedi said that the money was not earned for personal gains, but given to her NGO.
In November 2011, the Delhi Police, under directions of the additional chief metropolitan magistrate, registered an FIR against Bedi for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for her NGOs. The police later found no such evidence on her, and subsequently filed closure for the case.
