Congress goes soft on Arvind Kejriwal’s failed durbar

While the BJP and its supporters, notably Kiran Bedi, launched an all-out offensive against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's first Janta Durbar, there were surprisingly no headline grabbing statements from the Congress party criticising the fiasco.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at the Janata Darbar in New Delhi. PTI

AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad, whose tweet on BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi getting nervous about Aam Aadmi Party this morning has the BJP fuming, preferred to respond to Kejriwal's weekend misadventure with an Urdu couplet. "Complaints regarding 1st Janta Darbar of AAP govt remind me of an Urdu Couplet. Ibtadaye Ishq Hai Rota Hai Keya-Aage-Aage Dekhiye Hota Hai Keya. (It's beginning of love,why do you cry, wait and see what happens)," tweeted Ahmad on Saturday, summing up the Congress party's response.

However, the chaos that the janta durbar descended into seems to have had a sobering effect on Kejriwal's unorthodox style of politics, with his announcement today not to have such durbars anymore.

Reacting to Kejriwal's decision to rethink his durbar-style governance, the Delhi Congress President Arvinder Singh Lovely said, "We are nobody to comment on how they should function. Our only concern is that they should redress the grievances of the people, they should work for actual delivery rather than resort to gimmicks."

Asked what the Congress's take on Kejriwal's durbar was, Lovely said, "Rather than creating news and holding press conferences every day, they should concentrate on governance. It will be good if they take a practical approach to redressing grievances. Why do you want to call people to one place, why not call such meetings in each of the 70 constituencies. If AAP has 28 MLAs, each of those MLAs has a responsibility, not just the CM. Ours is not a presidential form of government."

In contrast to the outright rejection by the BJP on having such janta durbars, Kejriwal seems to have found support in the exercise from at least one Delhi Congress MLA.

Asked whether the janata durbar was a good idea that was badly implemented, the MLA said, "It is good idea, no doubt. It should have been organised better. They should have slotted a day each for department-wise complaints. You see, everyone has problems, it was only to be expected there would be massive crowds. Rajas used to call durbars in the past. From an aam admi, Kejriwal has become a raja."

Reacting to Kejriwal's announcement to scrap janata durbars just as quickly as he had decided to have them, the MLA said, "He is in a hurry. He shouldn't be in such a hurry. He should think hard and long before taking take decision. It is not as if we are threatening to topple the government."

Taking a dig at the BJP's incessant attacks against the AAP government and strong criticism of Kejriwal's durbar experiment, the MLA said, "If with 32 seats they are having to sit in Opposition and the party with 28 seats is sitting in government, it is obvious that they will be frustrated.  We should give AAP time to prove themselves before we start criticising them."