Country being presented with gimmickry and road to anarchy: Arun Jaitley on AAP

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley today joined the chorus of political criticism directed at Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying the country is being presented with "gimmickry and the road to anarchy" instead of alternative politics.

"My fear is that the failure of this experiment should not be confused by other parties as a failure of the good message of higher standards of probity and accountability,"Mr Jaitley said in an article.

He questioned the AAP's membership drive and the entry of many prominent faces after the party's success in the Delhi election.

"There is an in-built danger in establishing a political party and then going out to search its members and its ideology. In the process, a group of disparate, self-opinionated persons have flocked to the new outfit," said the BJP leader. "A sense of idealism has been replaced by desire for job seeking, resulting in fissures within the party."

Arvind Kejriwal's government in Delhi is facing a barrage of criticism with its inexperience now being seen more as liability than a refreshing change.

Advertisement

In a particularly bad week, AAP has battled open rebellion from one of its members, controversies surrounding some of its ministers and the horrific gang-rape of a Danish tourist in the heart of the city.

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid called the AAP a party of "Jurassic ideas, anarchists and some of the most third rate people across the country."

Advertisement

In an interview to NDTV, he said, "I know how much stink there is in AAP. They're lucky that today every stink is being described as a fragrance. In 15 days they've done enough damage to a sensible person's perception about them." (read: 'AAP has anarchists, third rate members')

As the one-year-old party was slammed by its rebel member Vinod Kumar Binny for reneging on promises and enjoying the spoils of power, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Why is #AAP in such a tearing hurry to start resembling older political parties? Are they trying to prove Rahul's 'power is poison' correct?"