Posts tagged ‘Arvind Kejriwal’

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21/03/2014

AAP Ousts Two Members on Corruption Concerns – India Real Time – WSJ

The political party created to combat corruption, the Aam Aadmi Party, moved quickly to protect its squeaky-clean image Friday, kicking out two party members amid allegations of bribery.

The two party workers have been accused of demanding bribes from wannabe politicians who were trying to get AAP tickets or nomination papers to run on behalf of the party for the Lok Sabha elections.

The Aam Aadmi, or common man, Party said it discovered demands had been made though no deal was done.

“The transactions did not take place but promises were made,” said Arvind Kejriwal, anti-corruption crusader and leader of the AAP, at a news conference on Friday.

One of the workers that was pushed out of the party, Aruna Singh, was an organizer for the party in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh and said she was not sure what she was being accused of. She had heard there was some recording of her allegedly involved in some kind of political transaction.

“This decision about me has been taken in haste,” Ms. Singh told The Wall Street Journal. “I didn’t get an opportunity to defend myself. If there is any recording of any transaction, they should have asked me if I was involved.”

Ashok Kumar, the other party member that was ousted, was a treasurer for the party in the Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

via AAP Ousts Two Members on Corruption Concerns – India Real Time – WSJ.

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07/03/2014

India’s anti-graft party takes aim at Modi’s economic model | Reuters

Indian opposition politician Narendra Modi, who leads opinion polls ahead of next month’s general election, faces pressure from a small anti-graft party attacking his economic model on his home turf, the thriving state of Gujarat.

Arvind Kejriwal and friends

Arvind Kejriwal and friends (Photo credit: vm2827)

The pro-business leader has presided over rapid economic growth during more than 12 years as the chief minister of the coastal state, and slashed red tape to attract companies such as Ford, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

Now, Modi promises to replicate his state’s development model nationwide if he becomes prime minister.

But Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, on Friday said small businessesin the state were being shuttered, public schools and health services were in poor shape and claims of regular supplies of electricity were not true.

“What is your development model?” Kejriwal asked as he tore into the heart of Modi’s campaign, saying that 400,000 of the state’s farmers who had applied for electricity connections years ago had yet to receive them.

“If you haven’t even given a connection, how will you give them electricity?”

India’s western state of Gujarat has been hailed for rapid measures to develop infrastructure and provide stable power supply, but critics often say it lags behind other states in social development.

“What we’ve seen in the last two days is quite shocking,” Kejriwal told reporters at a meeting on the edge of the state’s commercial capital of Ahmedabad.

Kejriwal, who was denied an audience with Modi, questioned the Gujarat chief minister’s claims on farm growth, job creation and clean governance, and suggested he was too close to big business.

He was on a tour to study conditions in Gujarat, as part of his party’s first national campaign since bursting onto the political scene with a stunning victory in Delhi’s local election in December.

via India’s anti-graft party takes aim at Modi’s economic model | Reuters.

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14/02/2014

Kejriwal resigns as Delhi Chief Minister – The Hindu

Arvind Kejriwal on Friday night resigned as Chief MInister of Delhi after suffering a defeat in the assembly on the Jan Lokpal Bill, bringing to an end a tumultuous run of 49-days in power on top of an anti-graft civil society movement.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a special session of the Delhi Assembly in New Delhi on Friday. Mr. Kejriwal has resigned as Delhi CM after the completion of the special session.

Goverment sources told PTI that he has sent his resignation to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung shortly after a meeting of the Cabinet.

Earlier, Mr. Kejriwal gave enough indications that his government may quit after the BJP and Congress combined to defeat introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill which he tabled in the Assembly defying Lt Governor’s advice.

“This appears to be our last session. I will consider myself fortunate if I have to sacrifice the chief minister’s post 1,000 times and my life to eradicate corruption,” he said in a brief speech in the Assembly after his government suffered defeat on its pet anti-graft legislation.

via Kejriwal resigns as Delhi Chief Minister – The Hindu.

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11/02/2014

Kejriwal orders probe into gas price hike issue, names Moily, Deora – The Hindu

The Delhi Government on Tuesday ordered the filing of criminal cases against Union minister Veerappa Moily, former minister Murli Deora, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani and others following complaints of irregularities in pricing of natural gas in the KG basin.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said the move to hike the price of natural gas will have a cascading effect on the economy. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi Government has been asked to probe the matter based on a complaint filed by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subrmanian, Admiral Tahiliani, former Navy Chief and eminent lawyer Kamini Jaiswal besides a former Expenditure Secretary.

“Today we have asked the ACB to probe the case. We are filing a criminal case against Murli Deora. FIRs are being filed against Moily, Mukesh Ambani former DG of Hydrocarbons V K Sibal, Reliance Industries Ltd and others,” he said addressing a press conference here.

Without explaining whether the Delhi Government has jurisdiction to probe the case, Mr Kejriwal alleged that Reliance Industries Ltd was benefited as Oil Ministry decided to hike the natural gas price to USD 8 per million British thermal unit as against current USD 4.2 from April 1.

He alleged that RIL did not produce adequate gas from eastern offshore KG basin block so as to put pressure on the government to hike the price. Reliance did not offer any immediate comments on the issue.

Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily however, rejected Mr Kejriwal’s allegations, saying price of petroleum products was fixed according to expert advice.

via Kejriwal orders probe into gas price hike issue, names Moily, Deora – The Hindu.

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17/01/2014

Honeymoon threatens to be brief for India’s anti-graft party | Reuters

From a rally that nearly ended in a stampede, to a rebellious lawmaker and a minister openly duelling police over drug gangs, the honeymoon could be short-lived for an anti-corruption party that shook up India\’s politics last month.

Arvind Kejriwal and friends

Arvind Kejriwal and friends (Photo credit: vm2827)

The Common Man\’s Party (AAP) enjoyed a heady few weeks after its leader Arvind Kejriwal pulled off a political surprise by becoming Delhi chief minister in December elections.

He eschewed the usual displays of power beloved of many of India\’s VIPs, such as expensive official cars that routinely ran red lights, and promised voters cheap water and power.

With his party aiming to contest a general election due by May, both the ruling Congress Party and the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party worry that Kejriwal could eat into their traditional voter support in the cities.

Kejriwal\’s party is still a force as it attracts supporters across the nation, ranging from intellectuals to journalists and rights activists. But a sinking feeling of inexperienced, out-of-their-depth politicians is increasingly manifesting itself.

via Honeymoon threatens to be brief for India’s anti-graft party | Reuters.

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10/01/2014

AAP kicks off nationwide membership drive – The Hindu

“Main bhi aam aadmi” campaign aims to enroll at least 1 crore members by January 26, 2014

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and party leader Gopal Rai launch the party's nationwide membership drive in New Delhi on Friday. Photo Rajeev Bhatt

Buoyed by its spectacular success in the Delhi Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday kicked off a nationwide membership drive with an aim to enroll at least 1 crore members by January 26, 2014 to strengthen the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said under the Main bhi aam aadmi campaign, any citizen can enroll as member of the party without paying any fee.

“Our target is to include 1 crore members in the party by January 26. But the membership drive will continue after that as well,” he said addressing a press conference.

He said the party had decided to waive the Rs. 10 membership fee as it was found out that many people could not afford it. “The decision to waive off the membership fee was taken at the national executive meeting last week,” he said.

Party leader Gopal Rai, who has been tasked to oversee the special membership drive, said over 3 lakh people have registered online as party members after the Delhi elections.

“This is perhaps the first time in the history of India that membership to a party is being opened to public like this. This is our biggest country—wide drive to connect with people before the Lok Sabha polls,” Mr. Rai told PTI.

“Success of this campaign is one of our major strategies before the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

Mr. Rai said the whole campaign will check the “ground reality” of the party’s prospects in the Lok Sabha polls to a certain level.

“A lot will depend on this campaign. We will get to know how much response is coming and from which areas,” he said.

Mr. Kejriwal said any citizen can give a missed call on mobile number 07798220033 to enrol as a party member. They can also send SMS of their name, STD code and Vidhan Sabha name after which they will get their membership number.

The citizens will also have an option of filling an online form on the Aam Aadmi Party website aamaadmiparty.org to become a member.

“Those who do not have mobile phones have to use their voter identification number and register at our website after January 17,” Mr. Rai said.

He said one mobile number holder can only have one membership.

Mr. Rai said all AAP members are being urged to bring in as many people as possible into the party fold.

via AAP kicks off nationwide membership drive – The Hindu.

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07/01/2014

* As Donations Pour In, Aam Aadmi Party Tries to Transform Campaign Finance – NYTimes.com

The Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man Party), having shaken up the political order in India by its surprisingly strong showing in the Delhi state assembly elections last month, is also making an attempt to change the way the country’s political campaigns are financed.

Supporters of Aam Aadmi Party listening to Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi, at Ramlila ground in New Delhi on Dec. 28.

When the party first began campaigning in 2012, it promised complete transparency in its finances, creating a website in which the name of the donor is listed, along with the donor’s country of residence, the date and the amount of the donation.

These efforts mark a considerable departure from the murky practices considered the norm in electoral finance in India. “It’s the first time there has been this level of transparency in fund-raising by a political party in India,” said E. Sridharan, academic director at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India in New Delhi, who has written extensively about electoral finance.

via News, Culture and Views From India – India Ink – NYTimes.com.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2014/01/04/aap-to-contest-lok-sabha-polls-the-hindu/

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29/12/2013

Delhi’s New Leader Vows to Halt Corruption – NYTimes.com

Standing before a crowd estimated in the tens of thousands, Delhi’s unlikely new leader, swept into office on an anticorruption campaign, was sworn in Saturday, and he vowed to arrest anyone in his government, from police officer to bureaucrat, who demanded a bribe.

“Within two days, I will announce a phone number, and if anybody asks for a bribe, please complain by that phone number and that person will be arrested red-handed,” Delhi’s youngest chief minister ever, Arvind Kejriwal, 45, said shortly after taking the oath of office.

Amid growing public anger over India’s widespread corruption, Mr. Kejriwal last year formed the Aam Aadmi, or Common Man, Party, which shocked India’s two largest and most solidly established parties this month by winning 28 of the 70 seats in Delhi’s state assembly. He became the state’s leader after the Indian National Congress Party, which won just eight seats, agreed to support him.

Mr. Kejriwal, a former tax commissioner, traveled to Saturday’s ceremony by subway, eschewing the vast motorcades of his predecessors. He has vowed to do away with Delhi’s culture of privileges for the powerful, which have been in place since the Mughal kings ruled India.

In contrast with past chief ministers whose swearing-in ceremonies were held at the state assembly among small, select audiences of the powerful, Mr. Kejriwal took the oath of office in Ramlila Maidan, an open area where he participated in mass anticorruption protests several years before. A spokesman for his party said the police had estimated the crowd at 100,000. Patriotic songs were played over loudspeakers, and many of those present carried signs reading “Today C.M. Tomorrow P.M.,” suggesting that Mr. Kejriwal would soon lead all of India.

Mr. Kejriwal announced last week that he would not travel in one of the cars with flashing lights that allow high-ranking officials to zip through Delhi’s oppressive traffic. He also said he would not accept a security detail or live in one of the sumptuous houses at New Delhi’s core that India’s elite have occupied since the British abandoned them in 1947.

Mr. Kejriwal was sworn in along with six of his ministers. All of them wore simple, white Gandhian caps bearing slogans like “I am the common man” and “I need self-rule.”

“We are here to serve the people, and we should not forget that,” he said in his remarks.

via Delhi’s New Leader Vows to Halt Corruption – NYTimes.com.

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28/12/2013

Taking power in New Delhi, ‘common man’ leader talks of revolution | Reuters

There was no motorcade, and none of the traditional trappings of power: the leader of India\’s upstart \”common man party\” arrived on a crowded metro train on Saturday to be sworn in as chief minister of Delhi, India\’s capital.

Arvind Kejriwal, leader of Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party (AAP), shouts slogans after taking the oath as the new chief minister of Delhi during a swearing-in ceremony at Ramlila grounds in New Delhi December 28, 2013. REUTERS-Anindito Mukherjee

Tens of thousands of jubilant supporters watched as Arvind Kejriwal, a mild-mannered former tax official, was anointed after a stunning electoral debut that has jolted the country\’s two main parties just months before a general election.

The emergence of Kejriwal\’s Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party, or AAP, as a force to be reckoned with barely a year since it was created on the back of an anti-corruption movement could give it a springboard to challenge the mainstream parties in other urban areas in the election due by next May.

That could be a threat to the front-runner for prime minister, Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is counting on strong support from urban, middle-class voters.

\”Today, the common man has won,\” Kejriwal said in a triumphant speech at Delhi\’s Ramlila grounds, the very place were huge protests over corruption erupted in 2011, opening the way for the birth of the AAP.

\”This truly feels like a miracle. Two years ago, we couldn\’t have imagined such a revolution would happen in this country.\”

In a December 4 election to the legislative assembly of Delhi, a city of 16 million people, no party won the majority of seats required to rule on its own.

The impasse that ensued was broken after the AAP – in a display of citizenship politics – consulted the people of the city. It then agreed to lead the Delhi government with \”outside support\” from the Congress party, which heads the national ruling coalition.

Opinion polls show that Congress, the party of India\’s celebrated Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, will be punished in the general election because of disgust with a government whose two terms have brought corruption scandals and stubborn inflation.

via Taking power in New Delhi, ‘common man’ leader talks of revolution | Reuters.

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01/12/2013

India’s political parties pump up the radio volume | India Insight

Anyone who keeps a radio turned on in India’s National Capital Region knows that election fever has settled on Delhi ahead of the Dec. 4 state polls. The ruling Congress party, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and newcomer Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are betting big on radio campaigning — a medium that reaches millions of people across economic classes and backgrounds.

Overall, about 250 million to 500 million rupees ($4 million to $8 million) have been spent on radio advertising in this year’s assembly election in Delhi – at least 200 percent more than during the 2008 state elections, Sunil Kumar of radio consulting firm Big River Radio estimated.

The AAP, or “common man party,” led by Arvind Kejriwal, has allocated 20 million to 30 million rupees ($320,000 to $480,000) for advertising, with 60 to 70 percent for radio and phone calls, said Dilip K. Pandey, an AAP secretary responsible for their communication strategy.

“The best thing about FM campaign is that it reaches out to everyone … there is an imbalance in society — there are rich people, there are poor people — but it reaches out to everybody,” Pandey said.

Eight private radio channels and seven central government-owned channels cater to a population of about 16 million residents in New Delhi, according to government data.

Average rates for on-air time can vary from 400 rupees per 10 seconds ($6.40) to 2,000 rupees ($32) depending on the radio station’s reach and the time of broadcast, Pandey said. Prices also depend on how long the ad is.

via India’s political parties pump up the radio volume | India Insight.

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