New Delhi:
Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid today slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) calling it a party of anarchists, out to destroy the system. Pulling no punches, Mr Khurshid told NDTV, "AAP has some of the worst kind of third rate people across the country. I've been to districts where I've seen the worst stinking person is the first to join AAP. I know how much stink there is in AAP. They're lucky that today every stink is being described as a fragrance."
Attacking AAP for its unconventional style of politics, and in a clear reference to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Janta Darbar fiasco, Mr Khurshid said "The AAP's ideas are Jurassic, they smell of anarchy. They just demean everything that's time tested. They question and defame anything and then they run away when they think they can't handle the crowds and they start screaming from rooftops."
Reacting to Mr Kejriwal's comment that the 2014 contest was between the BJP and AAP, Mr Khurshid said, "They're mistaken if they think they're in the race. They're running the government in Delhi because we're supporting them."
Criticising Mr Kejriwal for "redefining everything and moving the goal posts", he said, "The sooner he discovers what he really is and what his limits are, the better."
Not just Mr Kejriwal, former Home Secretary RK Singh too came under sharp attack from the foreign minister. Mr Khurshid said Mr Singh should have never been made the Home Secretary. This, after Mr Singh leveled a slew of politically explosive allegations against his former boss, Sushil Kumar Shinde, including that he lied that the US is working with India to catch underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
"RK Singh was a classmate of mine. I never had a great impression about his intellect. I think RK Singh should've gone on national TV and said the UPA government made a mistake in choosing me as Home Secretary."
Also commenting on the ongoing controversies surrounding former Supreme Court judges over sexual harassment allegations, Mr Khurshid, a former Law Minister, said that while complaints should not be ignored, long delays are a serious problem. "I understand that some people say they held back because they didn't have the courage to speak out. But to wait for one year, and then complain. In the US, the President was taken to task by an intern. But not after five years, it happened then. He was a powerful man. The time lag is a problem. I'm not saying the complaint should be ignored. But a one year wait for an unwelcome gesture? If even one of these complaints are dishonest, you've destroyed a man's life completely."
He added that despite its perceived unpopularity and the recent drubbing in the assembly elections, the Congress party was fully geared up for the 2014 electoral battle and added that he was convinced the party would prove critics and pollsters wrong.