AAP's actions led to its decline in Delhi, says Kiran Bedi

New Delhi, PTI: AAP's actions during the past 10 years in Delhi led to its decline, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said on Sunday. AAP which had won 62 assembly constituencies in 2020 and 67 in 2015 saw its tally plunge to 22 as the BJP registered a landslide victory with 48 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. "It (AAP) lost because of its own actions. I am speaking as a citizen about the decline I witnessed in the last 10 years," she told PTI Videos. Bedi, who was the BJP's candidate for chief minister in the 2015 election, said citizens of Delhi were reclaiming the city, which had been in decline over the years in terms of infrastructure, civic services, governance, financial management and harmony.

"It (Delhi) was not at peace with itself," she said. "We (people of Delhi) suffered silently for 10 years. This is a reclaiming a reclaiming to restore peace, harmony, respect and dignity." Asked about the assembly election results, the former Puducherry lieutenant governor said people spoke through EVMs because they had grown tired and were ready for a change. "I think a transition has begun. The results were unexpected but the celebrations were peaceful," Bedi said. "Everyone wants to see a vibrant, cleaner and greener Delhi. That's what we hope for and I believe it will work because there is now renewed energy to make it happen," she added. Bedi was part of Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption movement that catapulted AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal into national limelight.

"The movement was meant to fight corruption, which we succeeded in doing, but not to become corrupt ourselves or form a group that engaged in the same practices the movement opposed," she said. "That's why the group broke apart. The goal of the movement was to raise a strong voice against corruption and we succeeded in removing the corrupt," she added.