Kejriwal comes out of his cage: His target is not Lokpal, it's Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Friday's dramatic developments inside the Delhi Assembly followed a well-scripted path charted out by the outgoing Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his close advisers. In the morning, when reports came that the Lt Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung had sent a "message" to Assembly Speaker M S Dhir asking him not to allow the introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill, the writing on the wall was clear for Kejriwal. It was abundantly clear that even if the House adopted the Jan Lokpal Bill, it could not stand the test of law, as it was against the NCT govt's Rules of Business and the NCT Act, 1991. The introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill was on item number 5 of today's list of business, but it was the first to be taken up. Congress and BJP members created uproar demanding that the Speaker first read out the Lt Governor's message. In the din, the Speaker after initial reluctance by saying that it was his "personal convenience" to decide when to place the message, at last read out the message, which clearly said that the Jan Lokpal Bill could not be introduced without the consent of the Lt. Governor, Dhir went on to suddenly ask the chief minister to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill. Kejriwal dutifully "moved" that the Lokpal Bill be introduced amidst the din. Normally, during the introduction of a Bill, the Speaker seeks Ayes and Noes, but nothing of the sort was done. The House was adjourned, and all AAP leaders lighted up with broad smiles and began claiming before the media that the Jan Lokpal Bill has been introduced. They seemed to convey as if they had achieved a big victory.This was sufficient for the Congress to hit back.Furious Congress and BJP leaders then decided that they would demand voting on introduction of the bill. When the House reassembled, the Speaker allowed voting in which 27 AAP members stood up in support, while 42 members of BJP and Congress stood up to oppose. The Speaker declared that the House has not granted leave to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill.This became fodder for Kejriwal's canon. He made up his mind to quit, and told his close advisers, including Yogendra Yadav, all ministers and associates, that he was packing up. Kejriwal and other ministers' staff began packing up the papers, documents and books in cartons inside Delhi secretariat, even before the chief minister had announced his resignation. Inside the assembly, soon after the Jan Lokpal Bill fell in the introductory stage itself, Kejriwal calmly proceeded to move Appropriation Bill and other supplementary grants for voting. The Congress supported the AAP government in the passage of the bill and grants.By then, the word was out. Several kilometres away from the Assembly, at the AAP office on Hanuman Road in Central Delhi, hundreds of AAP workers were called in. They dutifully appeared holding brooms on their shoulders, caps on their heads in place, shouting slogans. Yogendra Yadav was giving broad hints to reporters that the 49-day-old game was up. "Let Kejriwal come here from the Assembly, we will have a meeting and then he will make the announcement", Yadav said. Inside the assembly, Kejriwal while replying to a monotonous "debate" on financial bills, let the cat out of the bag. Instead of replying to the points raised in the debate, the chief minister lashed out at the Congress and the BJP "for joining hands" to defeat the Jan Lokpal Bill. Kejriwal said, "we will now take our "kranti" (revolution) to Parliament". For Kejriwal, the target now is not the Lok Pal, it's the Lok Sabha, a bigger battle to be won. With the burden of governance off his shoulders, Kejriwal will now devote full time to his nationwide rallies planned by master strategist Yogendra Yadav, with his outgoing ministers holding fort in the capital. For Delhites, it's back to square one.