The Binny-Kejriwal Controversy : All You Need To Know!

(image source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

A man who became Chief Minister riding on the back of an agitation is all set to face the first protest against him, that too from one of his own party men. Yes, this week we take up the Binny-Kejriwal controversy and try and simplify it.

Who is Vinod Kumar Binny?

Vinod Kumar Binny is an MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly, the Lower House of a State Legislature) from the Laxmi Nagar constituency of Delhi. He belongs to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He has, in the past, twice been elected to the Delhi Municipal Corporation as an independent candidate. He was with the Congress for some time before joining the AAP in 2013.

Why is he in the news?

Recently, Binny held a press conference and talked about the issues that he had with the functioning of the Delhi government, headed by Arvind Kejriwal. According to him, the government was not fulfilling the promises that the party had made in its manifesto in the true sense. He has now threatened to sit on an indefinite hunger strike from the 27^th of this month if the promises are not kept. Let us look at the four major allegations made by him:

700 litres of free water

Promise: The AAP, in its election manifesto, promised up to 700 litres of free water.

Action: Kejriwal contends that this promise is fulfilled as the AAP government has announced that any household whose water use is limited to 667 litres will not be charged a single rupee.

Allegation: Binny’s allegation is that this promise hasn’t actually been fulfilled as after the elections, a clause was cleverly included whereby anyone who exceeds the limit, even by 1 litre, will have to pay the entire amount.

50% reduction in power tariffs

Promise: The AAP promised a 50% cut in electricity tariffs.

Action: The Delhi government has provided a 50% subsidy to households consuming power up to 400 units.

Allegation: Binny says, “The manifesto clearly said power tariff will be cut by 50 per cent (implying the rate cut should have been across the board and not just limited to certain households). 10 lakh, 52 thousand people followed Arvind's disobedience and did not pay their bills. They were promised bills would be waived off. That promise wasn't kept either.”

Passage of Jan Lokpal Bill

Promise: Arvind Kejriwal promised that if the party came to power it would pass the Jan Lokpal Bill within 15 days by holding an open Assembly session at Ram Leela Maidan. Technically, a Lokpal is for looking at corruption cases in the Central government and for the State, the position is called Lokayukta and Delhi already has a Lokayukta. In principle, Kejriwal meant that he would strengthen the existing Lokayukta Act by including strict provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the draft popularised by Anna Hazare.

Action: The present situation is such that Kejriwal has said he will bring the promised Bill by the first week of February.

Allegation: Binny says, “AAP came into power on December 28.  15 days have passed. According to their promise, the Jan Lokpal should have been executed.”

Commando force for protection of women

Promise: As a solution to the problem of increasing cases of crimes against women, the AAP had proposed the formation of a special commando force.

Action: No information could be gathered regarding the government’s decision on this.

Allegation:  Highlighting the recent gang rape of a Danish woman in the city, Binny said, “If any other government was in power, AAP would have protested Danish woman gang-rape. You (he is addressing Kejriwal) should be ashamed. You said you would make a commando force, you haven't even started discussing it.”

The politics behind all this!

These were the four major issues raised by him. Apart from these, he even made certain political statements. He called Arvind Kejriwal a dictator. The AAP had said it wouldn’t take decisions behind closed doors but Binny says that the same thing is happening and Kejriwal, along with four-five people, takes all the decisions. According to him, Kejriwal doesn’t give regard to other’s views and shouts at people if they disagree with him. He even alleged corruption in the ticket distribution process.

Kejriwal has dismissed these allegations saying, “There’s nothing I can do about what he is saying. First, he had come for minister ship, we refused. After that, he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls. He came to my house to ask for the ticket. The party has decided that all sitting MLA’s would not be given tickets for the Lok Sabha polls.”

Binny says that he never wanted to be a Minister. In fact, he says that his name was initially there on the list of Ministers but he himself had withdrawn his name.

Reality: It is a fact that in the end of December when Binny had come to know that his name was not there in the list of MLA’s who would take oath as ministers, he had met Kejriwal and was seen leaving his house looking annoyed. Even then, he had promised to hold a press conference to expose Arvind Kejriwal but then the matter died down.

Secondly, he even criticized the party for not taking action with regard to corruption allegations against the Sheila Dixit (former Chief Minister of Delhi) government. He attributed this to what he alleged Kejriwal’s closeness to Sandeep Dixit, son of Sheila Dixit and a Congress spokesperson.

Kejriwal has always maintained that no corrupt person would be spared, whether he was from the Congress, BJP or even the AAP.

Present Situation:

The AAP has issued a show cause notice to Binny. Senior party leader Yogendra Yadav said that a meeting of all party MLA’s was held but Mr. Binny did not raise these issues at that meeting. He requested the angry MLA not to put personal ambitions ahead of the people’s hopes and expectations. Whether it is a case of sour grapes or Mr. Binny is raising certain pertinent issues, only time will tell.