Anna Hazare on Delhi election result: ‘Kejriwal was doing a good job, but…’

Anna Hazare, who was Arvind Kejriwal's mentor during the anti-corruption movement, said that the AAP chief should have set an example before society.

Updated on: Feb 22, 2025, 24:39:15 IST

By HT News Desk

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Activist Anna Hazare on Friday said AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was doing a "good job" as Delhi's chief minister, but then he started opening liquor vends and faced “people's wrath” in the assembly elections.

"The earlier CM (Kejriwal) was doing a good job and became Delhi chief minister thrice. I did not speak anything (against him) as he was doing a good job. But then, slowly, he started opening liquor vends and issuing licenses. Then I got upset," Hazare was quoted as saying by PTI.

Anna Hazare, who was Kejriwal's mentor during the anti-corruption movement in the early 2010s, said that the AAP chief should have set an example before society, but he went astray.

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He also remarked that Rekha Gupta's selection as the new chief minister of the national capital was a matter of pride. He added that the people voted for her because of her “pure thoughts and deeds”, reported PTI.

Earlier this month, Anna Hazare said that those contesting elections must have character, good ideas, and an unblemished image.

"But they (AAP) didn’t maintain that. They got tangled in liquor and money – his (Arvind Kejriwal's) image was dented because of it, and that’s why they are getting fewer votes in the election,” Hazare had said.

Reiterating his decision to stay away from the party, Hazare had said: “When a meeting was held, I decided that I would not be part of the party – and I have remained away from that day.”

In the elections earlier this month, the BJP ousted the AAP from power in Delhi, winning 48 of the national capital's 70 assembly seats. The Aam Aadmi Party won only 22 seats.

Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal lost his New Delhi seat to BJP's Parvesh Verma.

(Inputs from PTI)

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