Arvind Kejriwal broke away from his mentor Anna Hazare on the issue of floating a political outfit. He along with the Bhushan duo- who   have a political history behind them for Bhushan Sr. was a Law Minister under Morarji Desai, Sisodia and some other vibrant elements from the upper middle class elite groups accepted the challenge thrown by established political parties to form a political party and fight elections instead of holding dharnas, Satyagrahas etc. Unfortunatley for them, their Mentor Anna forbade them from using his name in their campaign while others who stayed with Anna like Santhosh Hegde, Kiran Bedi wait for the opportune moment in history to declare to which faction their loyalties lie.

Arvind has always been suspected to be the master strategist in the movement called India against corruption. Although he has not satisfactorily answered many questions about the funding of his NGO, he has indeed struck a chord with disenchanted Indian middle class. Arvind has taken the job of creating a political space for his newly launched party very seriously when he launched his agitation against what he called inflated power bills of BSES the utility that runs power supply in the national capital. He chose to target the Delhi Government under Sheila Dikshit for the alleged collusion with private operators to rob the people. Arvind unlike his mentor is an educated civil servant should know that the power bills are issued by BSES under tariffs framed by an independent regulator. He should have sit in strike in front of offices of Reliance Power and should have targeted the independent regulator and more specifically Mr. Anil Ambani who owns the utility. But he is intelligent enough to understand that fighting the might of Ambani will break his back and also that may not carry the tag of a fighter. So he was busy restoring power supplies to places where they were disconnected in the first place for nonpayment of bills.

Then   came the master stroke if one would call it. He put in public domain a maze of documents which were doing the rounds about a couple of years back on the sudden splurge in the wealth of Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law citing undue favors extended to a realty firm DLF by friendly Congress Governments in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan while suggesting that the firm chose to shower windfall on Robert Vadra- advancing him money, selling property cheap, buying them back at inflated rates etc. Robert Vadra has had a modest business in antiques with his father and mother. His marriage in the first family helped him build the fortune which is otherwise next to impossible. This was the charge but there was a caveat. The IAC team could not muster enough evidentiary material to suspect mala fide quid pro quo. Dr.Yogendra Yadav admitted to this lapse but said probity demands the suspicion on the nature of transactions need to be  cleared by those who are charged of conflict of interest.

DLF has vehemently denied any wrong doing on its part, while Haryana Government also issued denials in favoritism shown to DLF group. Congress ministers including Chidambaram dismissed the charges ruling out ordering of any probe on transactions between two private individuals. Prime Minister himself advocates right to privacy of individuals while acting on RTI applications suggesting a legal remedy to provide for such right. Suggestions were given to the activists to seek legal redress on their complaints which the activists refused knowing that they will never get admitted for lack of sufficient evidence.

Nonetheless, the Gandhi family seems to have been rattled even though the principal opposition has not reacted as vehemently as expected. The Hindu which ran a story on the rags to riches story of Robert Vadra smelt a rat suggesting returning of favors by the BJP for the silence of the Congress on the alleged trespasses of foster son-in-law of Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The standards of probity demanded by IAC are indeed a tall order which only a Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi could emulate. Yet, it will be in the interests of   UPA chairperson who is the real target to dispel misgivings about the trespasses of her son in law. He could be innocent and yet propriety demands the air be cleared. Sonia today could be dismissive of IAC and its agenda which I also suspect to be motivated but ordering a probe in to the dealings could enhance her public image. Who knows the Supreme Court could give the benefit of doubt as it did in the TANSI deal which concluded that there was in fact conflict of interest in purchase of property of TANSI by Sasi  Enterprises  a company where Jayalalitha was a partner it suggested the CM to atone her sins. Such an acquittal at least on paper could stop rumor mongering for a while.

There is one request to Mr Kejriwal. Please stop wearing Gandhi Topi once for all because I do not think one should insult the father of the nation in the name of competitive politics.