It was Lalu who hugged me, insists Kejriwal

“I am glad that I am not associated with Arvind Kejriwal anymore otherwise my name would also have been dragged”, said Anna. He shook hand and pulled me and hugged me.

Mr Hazare’s comments came even as the Delhi chief minister sought to clear the air on the “hug” that has become a much discussed topic in the country. Hazare specified that he felt good to have separated from Kejriwal or he too would have had to carry the taint of fodder scam in which Lalu was held guilty. Kejriwal said AAP is against Prasad’s record of corruption and dynastic politics and will continue to oppose it. Lalu Prasad’s sons, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, and Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav, were also present at the meeting. It started after Kejriwal was invited to the Bihar Samman Samaroh in August where he openly supported Nitish Kumar. Questions are being asked because people have hope (in AAP), because they think we are different.

This was the first time the national council was meeting since it expelled founding members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the national executive in April-two months after winning 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi assembly election.

Saying the AAP didn’t believe in “power politics”, he said it was not eyeing the next Lok Sabha battle.

He said, “On January 22, we will organise Car-Free Day across Delhi. Don’t run after elections”. However, he said he was happy that questins are raised about him and not other political leaders who had hugged Lalu on the stage.

Asserting that the party’s main aim was to tackle corruption, Kejriwal claimed his was the first government to sack a Minister for involvement in graft. This might give critics of AAP a chance to accuse him of going against his party’s motto and supporting a corrupt politician.

The ceremony also saw the presence of Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu and BJP leader Sushil Modi.