Arvind Kejriwal is a "self-serving ambitious megalomaniac" having "streak" of Hitler, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh alleged in the sharpest attack on the activist on Friday.
Seeking to turn the table on Kejriwal, the Congress leader said he would also be posing him questions on Saturday and asked Kejriwal whether he would dismiss like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Anna Hazare and Ramdev the "uncomfortable" questions asked to them by him.
In a letter to Kejriwal, Singh said, "When YP Singh (retired India Police Service officer), your former colleague in civil society movement, called you a Hitler, I could see the streak in you. My opinion about you of a well-meaning crusader of public issues has now changed to a self-serving ambitious megalomaniac with scant regard for democracy," he said.
Read: Digvijaya Singh's letter to Arvind Kejriwal
Digvijaya claimed Kejriwal couldn't get along with Aruna Roy, who was "your guru in the RTI movement. Then you parted ways with Kiran Bedi and now, also with Anna whom you used as a front to give your ambitions a touch of respectability".
He claimed Kejriwal wanted him to recommend his name for being made a member of the National Advisory Council. "You wanted to meet her (Sonia Gandhi) and had requested me to propose your name for inclusion in the NAC. I did propose your name but failed. She took Aruna Roy," Singh said.
He also said Kejriwal had first met him during a seminar at Berkeley University in San Francisco and that the Congress leader was quite impressed by his commitment to the cause of the Right To Information.
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'Kejirwal used Anna to give his ambitions touch of respectability'
In the letter, Singh also suggested that the "failure" to get in the NAC prompted Kejriwal to upstage the NAC in the task on the Lokpal bill."I feel this was the time when you made up your mind to upstage the NAC by bringing in Anna Hazare and force the government to engage you in drafting the Lokpal Bill," he said.He prefaced the remarks by saying that a strong Lokpal was the next main item on the Agenda of Congress President.
"She had publicly declared her intent at the AICC session at Burari in December 2010. She entrusted this task to NAC members Aruna Roy and Harsh Mandar and directed them to draft a strong Lokpal Bill," Singh recalled.
"Your draft, if accepted in totality, would have made the Jan Lokpal as the most powerful man in our successful and functional democracy, without being accountable to any one. You could have waited for the draft being prepared by Aruna Roy and then suggested amendments, which could have been discussed by all political parties to enable an acceptable draft to emerge and get adopted," Singh said.
The AICC general secretary accused Kejriwal of forcing Anna Hazare to take "my way or the highway" route on Lokpal."You are aware of the fractured structure of the Parliament and do realise that any legislation in this Parliament can be passed with a consensus only. But you forced Anna to take the route of "my way or the highway" and tried to steamroll the political process only to meet your own whims," Singh said.
Singh noted he was "very happy" that Kejriwal has chosen to form a political party and decided to fight elections, as "in a democracy, this is the only way to deliver in public life."The AICC leader said his only advice to Kejriwal as a senior politician is to "first practice, then preach".He also reminded Kejriwal that he was "all praise" for Sonia Gandhi on an earlier occassion when he had met the activist along with Swami Agnivesh who had approached the AICC leader for a Conference on RTI.
Kejriwal said Digvijaya's letter does not merit a response and it only showed that the Congress party was "completely rattled and baffled". "Digvijay's letter to me does not merit a response. Congress seems to be completely rattled and baffled. That is apparent from Digvijay's letter. Digvijay seems Congress' last resort," Kejriwal tweeted.
Responding to Singh's remarks, Kejriwal's close associate Kumar Vishwas told PTI, "We have only one thing to say to him. Get well soon."
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