M A I N   N E W S

AAP sees a valuable ‘asset’ in Khemka
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 10
Buoyed by its dream run in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now eyeing the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. In the neighbouring state of Haryana, it is now seeing a “valuable asset” in whistle-blower IAS officer Ashok Khemka.

Though AAP’s senior leader Manish Sisodia denied having sent Khemka any formal invite after the Delhi poll but the party’s admiration for the man who took on the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government is more than evident.

“There has been no formal communication but we would love to have him on board and become a part of the cleaning up of India’s electoral process. He has the experience, he is courageous and can definitely be an asset for AAP,” said the recently-elected MLA from Patparganj.

Khemka shot into headlines after he locked horns with the state government over the alleged “murky” land deals of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He was recently charge sheeted in connection with the cancellation of mutation of a land deal involving Vadra and DLF.

However, this is not the first time AAP has spoke fondly of Khemka, who the party feels can be an ideal promoter of its ideology. His frequent transfers made Kejriwal come out in support of the “upright officer of Haryana who showed the courage to stand up to this massive scam against corruption, cronyism and illegalities in the Haryana Government”.

The party also asked Khemka to come forward and take up “this challenge of cleaning the political system by creating a political alternative”.

“Ashok Khemka has shown exemplary courage. We salute him. We urge him to take one more step. He should quit his job and join politics. How long will people like him keep on serving these unscrupulous politicians?

“People like him ought to be in Assemblies and Parliament. It is people like him who ought to be making laws. Aam Aadmi Party urges Ashok Khemka to join the party and fight elections directly against the present Congress CM Hooda,” AAP wrote on its website a few months back.

But it was at the time when nobody believed AAP had any chance. With the situation taking a dramatic turn after the stunning performance in the Delhi Assembly polls, the party is hoping for a good show in the two states that go to the polls in 2014 -- Maharashtra and Haryana.

Haryana, incidentally, is the home state of Kejriwal and national executive member Yogendra Yadav.