New Delhi: Kumar Vishwas, the Aam Aadmi Party leader who took on Rahul Gandhi in the national elections, today put up a spirited defence of his party and its chief Arvind Kejriwal, also making a fierce attack on Kiran Bedi of the BJP.
Known for his candid and often controversial comments, Mr Vishwas also told NDTV, "The PM does not belong to a single party. If the PM does good work we will appreciate that." A few months after the national elections last year, Mr Vishwas had hit the headlines with praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview where he also criticised Arvind Kejriwal.
Today, he not only defended his party chief, but also his own right to speak his views in a "democratic party like AAP."
"Is there a single person in the BJP who can survive if he disagrees with PM Modi or Amit Shah? I work in a party where there is inner party democracy," Mr VIshwas said.
His harshest criticism was reserved for Kiran Bedi, who was an associate of Mr Kejriwal and Mr Vishwas as part of Gandhian activist Anna Hazare's team during his anti-corruption movement in 2011. "Kiran Bedi was a sympathiser of the BJP even then. Kejriwal told us that Kiran doesn't want us to attack the BJP," the AAP leader alleged.
He also asked Ms Bedi or "Kiran didi (older sister)" how she "can endorse a party like the BJP that doesn't give complete details of its funding" and challenged her to pressure the BJP into meeting the anti-corruption demands that she had raised during Anna Hazare's campaign for a Lokpal for national ombudsman to look into graft cases.
Ms Bedi, a former top cop, joined the BJP last week and has been named as the party's chief ministerial candidate to take on Arvind Kejriwal.
Mr Vishwas is a poet and stage artist who has been a prominent member of the Aam Aadmi Party since it was launched by Arvind Kejriwal in 2012. He was handpicked by Mr Kejriwal to take on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the latter's family bastion Amethi.
Mr Vishwas had won so few votes that he lost his deposit. Today he dismissed that as inconsequential to his career goals.
Known for his candid and often controversial comments, Mr Vishwas also told NDTV, "The PM does not belong to a single party. If the PM does good work we will appreciate that." A few months after the national elections last year, Mr Vishwas had hit the headlines with praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview where he also criticised Arvind Kejriwal.
Today, he not only defended his party chief, but also his own right to speak his views in a "democratic party like AAP."
His harshest criticism was reserved for Kiran Bedi, who was an associate of Mr Kejriwal and Mr Vishwas as part of Gandhian activist Anna Hazare's team during his anti-corruption movement in 2011. "Kiran Bedi was a sympathiser of the BJP even then. Kejriwal told us that Kiran doesn't want us to attack the BJP," the AAP leader alleged.
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Ms Bedi, a former top cop, joined the BJP last week and has been named as the party's chief ministerial candidate to take on Arvind Kejriwal.
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Mr Vishwas had won so few votes that he lost his deposit. Today he dismissed that as inconsequential to his career goals.
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