Zeenews Bureau
Ghaziabad: Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has been embroiled in yet another controversy. This time it had to do with his reluctance to vote in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Tuesday. Nonetheless, he was forced to retract after a hullaballoo in the media.
Kejriwal was reportedly heading to Goa for a Team Anna meet without casting his vite. But after the media picked up the story he came back to Ghaziabad to cast his vote, only to find that his name was not in the voters list.
Later Kejriwal said that he had the voters’ card and that he had returned to vote as he had ‘realised his mistake’. "I was feeling guilty when I was leaving for Goa."
This goof-up by the anti-corruption crusader gave a chance to his detractors to take a dig at him. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh promptly tweeted, “If they do believe in democracy then what form of democracy.” “Obviously Team Anna doesn't practice what it preaches. They should clarify whether they believe in democracy or not,” he added. Further rubbing it in, he tweeted, “Great protectors of probity in public life. Anna doesn't go to vote. Kejriwal doesn't care to see whether he is registered as voter.”
Arvind Kejriwal was involved in another controversy recently when on February 25 he had termed Parliamentarians as 'robbers' and 'rapists'. This remark had sparked off a huge controversy with the entire political class coming down heavily on the social activist.
Also in what seems ironical now, Anna Hazare had met Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi just a few days back and pressed the poll panel to consider implementing the measures suggested by the civil society in the proposed electoral reform process.
Anna was accompanied by Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of Quraishi’s rejection of Team Anna’s two main demands of incorporating ‘right to recall’ and ‘right to reject’ in the proposed electoral reform process.
The poll panel chief was of the opinion that the 'right to reject' or the 'right to recall' non-performing MPs may not work in a large country like India.
First Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 12:33