New Delhi:
Former super cop turned social activist Kiran Bedi on Thursday joined India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bedi drove down to BJP’s central office located on Ashoka Road with the BJP president Amit Shah after they had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah, accompanied by federal ministers Arun Jaitley and Dr Harsh Vardhan formally inducted her into the party and announced Bedi would contest next month’s Delhi legislative assembly elections.
Shah, however, refused to comment on whether she would be fielded as candidate form the New Delhi assembly constituency against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and if she would be BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, saying these issues would be decided by the party’s Parliamentary Board — BJP’s apex decision making body.
Bedi, known for her bold actions as a police officer and making bold statements, virtually staked her claim to become the next Delhi chief minister saying she brings with her four decades of administrative experience.
“For last 40 years I have been serving the nation. When my seniority was ignored [to become Delhi Police Commissioner] I decided to quit the force. Now I am here because of PM Modi’s leadership,” Bedi said.
Shah welcomed Bedi into the party and said her joining the BJP would strengthen the party.
With February 7 polling getting closer than what it had initially appeared to be tilted in favour of the BJP, getting Bedi who in the past had spurned offers to join politics is being seen as a master stroke of the BJP since she was extremely popular when she worked in Delhi Police and then as a social activist.
There are speculations that she has been asked to contest against Kejriwal with the promise that she would be appointed chief minister if she defeats him.
With Dr Harsh Vardhan becoming a federal minister, BJP has been facing paucity of a leader who could match Kejriwal’s stature. Since they worked together with anticorruption crusader Anna Hazare, BJP is hopeful that Bedi would prove more than a match to Kejriwal.
“I have been fond of Kiran Bedi ji. I always tried to convince her that she shed [should] join politics. I am happy she did it today,” Kejriwal twitted.
Besides Bedi, film star-turned-politician Jaya Prada and newsanchor-turned-politician Shazia Ilmi are also likely to join the BJP soon.
Jaya Prada confirmed in Hyderabad that her close friend Amar Singh is currently negotiating her entry into the BJP. She was expelled from the Samajwadi Party in 2010 for supporting Amar Singh. She lambasted the Samajwadi Party, terming her association with the party as a very bitter experience. “They never respected women,” Jaya Prada added.
BJP sources indicated that Jaya Prada may also be fielded as a BJP candidate for Delhi polls.
Shazia Ilmi has already started campaigning for BJP and her induction into the BJP is just a mere formality now. She quit Aam Aadmi Party last year protesting against lack of internal democracy and has already said she would not contest the upcoming Delhi polls.
BJP in its bid to win a clear majority in the 70-member Delhi assembly does not want to leave anything to chance and hopes the induction of Bedi, Jaya Prada and Ilmi would get it some extra seats due to their star powers.
