AAP’s Choice of Rajya Sabha Candidates Another Exercise in Hoodwinking People, Says Santosh Hegde

New Delhi: As Aam Admi Party leaders exchanged verbal blows over the Rajya Sabha seat nominations, Santosh Hegde, who was in the core team of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, watched from distance AAP’s “striking resemblance to other political systems that the party envisioned to counter”.

Speaking to News18.com, Hegde, who retired as Lokayukta of Karnataka, said, “Choice of AAP’s Rajya Sabha candidates is another exercise in hoodwinking people.”

Hegde said that AAP “first based a foundation of deception” to show people it is “going for intellectual and successful apolitical personalities”. “They did so by naming the candidates publicly to avoid aspirants in its own ilk,” he added.

Hegde joined the anti-corruption movement launched by Anna Hazare in 2011 as a core member of Team Anna. However, he refused to be part of it after the team decided to go political. For him, “AAP is a politically ambitious end product of a well-meaning and highly successful apolitical movement initiated by Anna Hazare.”

He said that AAP had strong support from the middle-class family of India because they were tired of the existing political parties. However, he said, AAP was no exception to what was existing.

“The middle-class Indians fell for it because they saw no hope in the political system. What happened thereafter is well known,” he said. Hegde said that AAP is now a party with many heads and one body. “Body doesn’t know which head is controlling it,” he said.

While the party was seen as an anti-establishment, Hegde doesn’t feel AAP could provide alternate politics.

“In my opinion, Indians will have to wait for long to find something better. If Indians do not change present day society which respects only money and power, it will be a long wait,” he said. Hegde hopes that “suffering Indians” will build a society which boycotts the corrupt and respects the honest.

Kejriwal’s party is facing the same allegations and accusations as any other – “Where is the indication that they are different from any other political party?” he asked.

There have been allegations against everyone but after the RS nominations, his staunchest supporters have questioned “Kejriwal’s integrity”. “Well, nobody heard about his corruption until he came to political power.

Before politics, he never had any opportunity to be corrupt. He left every job. Being honest is a different concept if you don’t have a chance to be dishonest,” Hegde said.