Disappointed with working of Arvind Kejriwal, says Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey

Ballia, Jul 4: Magsaysay award winner and social activist Sandeep Pandey is disappointed with the working of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and has said that AAP is turning out to be like other political parties.

"We had hoped of a fundamental shift in politics through the Aam Admi Party (AAP) but it too is turning out to be any other political party and Kejriwal's working is disappointing," Pandey, who was here in connection with a programme, told newspersons last night.

Pandey said when AAP was born from the India Against Corruption movement, the idea was to make it a party of social activists but this dream could not be realised.

"The format of AAP is definitely not what had been visualised," Pandey said.

He said there was a golden chance for Kejriwal to change the character of politics but he was losing the opportunity.

Pandey, who hails from Ballia, said the party had an arrangement of collective responsibility which is on the wane following which people like Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar and Prashant Bhushan have parted ways.

The Magsaysay award winner however admitted that AAP government has managed to break VIP culture and check corruption in Delhi.

On the functioning of Modi government, he said there appears to be a shortage of intelligent people in the BJP and the Sangh pariwar and cited recent statements made by senior central ministers and party leaders to stress his point.

On cleanliness campaign, he said merely clicking pictures and hype on the issue cannot make the country clean.

PTI