AAP drowned due to liquor policy, focus on money: Anna Hazare

As the BJP is poised to form a government in Delhi, activist Anna Hazare on Saturday said the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP "drowned" due to the liquor policy and its focus on money, failing to understand its duty to serve people selflessly. "With the liquor policy issue came the money and they drowned in it. The (AAP's) image was tarnished. People saw he (Arvind Kejriwal) talks about clean character and then about liquor," Hazare, who led the anti-corruption movement in 2011, told reporters.In a jibe at Kejriwal, the anti-graft activist further said a candidate's character should be clean and he should know the virtues of sacrifice.
Hazare said the AAP lost as it failed to understand the need to serve people selflessly and took the wrong path. "Money took the front seat which dented AAP's image, leading to its defeat," he added.Hazare said he stayed away from politics when the AAP was founded. "I have been saying this since the beginning that when one contests polls, the candidate's character should be clean and spotless. The candidate should know the virtues of sacrifice and should have the capacity to tolerate insults.
The Aam Aadmi Party, born from Hazare's anti-corruption crusade, is trailing behind the Bharatiya Janata Party as votes are being counted for the 70-member Delhi assembly polls held earlier this week. Hazare and Kejriwal parted ways after the latter decided to form the AAP in 2012. The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.