Former Supreme Court Justices and Former Colleagues

Former Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde expresses great disappointment with Arvind Kejriwal

Bangalore:

Former Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde today said he is “totally disappointed” with Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in a money laundering case related to the GST policy.

Justice Hegde (retd), former Solicitor General of India, was one of the key figures behind the India Against Corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare more than a decade ago, which included Mr Kejriwal . Corruption issues took center stage.

“This clearly shows that when in power, greed gets the better of you,” he said, referring to Arvind Kejriwal’s case.

“I am very disappointed. I thought AAP (after coming to power) would uphold administrative fairness, but it did not exist. This shows that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he told Press Trust of India.

After a part of the movement became a political party (AAP), former Karnataka Lokayukta judge (retd) Hegde emerged from it.

“The special reason for coming out is that today’s politics is a den of corruption. No political party can escape it. The Indian Anti-Corruption Movement is fighting against government corruption.

Our principle is to stay away from politics and try to purify politics. But then a group of people decided that we should enter politics (and then go on to form AAP) and clean it up, which I never believed could be done successfully. I think what happened to the AAP today is an example of what I think is right,” Mr Hegde said.

He said Arvind Kejriwal came home and invited him to a party, but he did not agree.

Mr. Hegde also shared his views on the allegations often made by the opposition parties that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government misused central agencies such as the Education Department and the CBI in corruption cases and used them as Target.

“The opposition party accuses the ruling party of doing this just to destroy the opposition, I don’t believe it. Yes, they do it selectively. But there is no crime at all. Because in the criminal code, there is no article (of the constitution) Article 14… Equality does not apply.

“One day, when they come to power, they will be against the BJP. So, there will be complete justice in the end, isn’t it? If they don’t do it against the opposition, then when they come to power, they will win” Don’t do the same to these people. At least 50 percent justice has been done now,” he said.

Hegde said he wants everyone who is eligible to vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Vote not on the basis of any caste or any affiliation but on the quality of the candidate. If you don’t find the right candidate to serve your constituency then there is NOTA (None of the Above). Vote for Attention “This will send a message to the party that every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ is not a suitable politician,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)