Kiran Bedi joining BJP a mistake: Prashant Bhushan

Hyderabad, Feb 21: Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said today it was a mistake on the part of former IPS officer Kiran Bedi to join the BJP after being a part of the anti-corruption movement.

"I think it was a mistake for her to join the BJP. Because we all know that BJP is also a corrupt party. For a person, who was a part of the anti-corruption movement, to join a party which is also known to be corrupt, (is) not a very good thing to do," he told reporters.

Bhushan was speaking after delivering a lecture at the NALSAR University of Law here. Asked if the scale of Aam Aadmi Party's victory in Delhi Assembly polls came as a surprise to him, Bhushan, one of the founders of AAP, replied in the affirmative.

"Yes, we were ourselves surprised by the scale of this victory. It showed two things. Firstly, the built-up anger against the present BJP government as well as the hopes that people have from the Aam Aadmi Party. Both of these resulted in this huge victory for Aam Aadmi Party," he said. Asked about Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal deciding not to hold any ministries, he said it was his prerogative.

"That's all right. That's up to him. He must be generally wanting to supervise the ministries," Bhushan said. On the corporate espionage episode, he said it was an "open secret" that such things had been going on.

"This is something which has been going on for a long time. It is also known to the governments that it has been going on for a long time. The Radia tapes also contained evidence of this.

"Prior to that, some Reliance senior officials had been caught many years ago. This is an open secret. Large corporations have been involved in subverting all secrecy of these various ministries. But, unfortunately, nobody has been taking action against them because they are so powerful," he said.

"So, we have to see whether any serious action will be taken against the high and mighty and the powerful. Because, obviously this is being done in connivance with the top corporates and obviously top bureaucrats and perhaps ministers may also be involved in this," he said.

PTI