The sudden change of heart by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal towards Dausa farmer’s ‘suicide’ at his rally on Wednesday has surprised many. The Chief Minister, who, till Thursday, was trying to brazen it out, on Friday morning made a sudden U-turn expressing contrition. According to well-placed sources, the strategy to soften his stand and use ‘defence as offence’ was adopted after Kejriwal was informally conveyed that Delhi Police has enough evidence to register an FIR against his party and in course of investigation, also book prominent leaders. Following this message, AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, who, till a day earlier, was loose-lipped, suddenly zipped up.
Sources said Delhi Police has in its custody an audible footage of loose talk by Kumar Vishwas on stage while the whole drama was unfolding, which could implicate the leadership. Police is also examining the various messages sent out by different AAP leaders on Twitter and Facebook to verify whether the script of the drama, which unfolded, was available in advance to the leaders on the dais.
To grapple with a sticky situation, AAP leadership, on Friday, adopted a three-pronged media strategy to prevail over the damage done to the image of the party and possible legal action. The first move was for Kejriwal to call TV news agency ANI and issue a statement apologising for the incident whilst also considerably softening his stand towards Delhi Police. The second part of the move was party spokesperson Ashutosh going on TV and turning on the waterworks. The third move was media coverage of AAP delegation visiting the victim’s home Rajasthan’s Dausa with ex-gratia of Rs10,0000. The family failed to oblige the AAP delegation and, in fact, sought a CBI probe into the unexpected tragedy.
Sources said after Delhi Police held up mirror to Kejriwal, he decided to play down his Government’s face-off with Delhi Police over the probe and supposedly was even to give his statement to police should the need arise.