Shiela Dikshit vs Kejriwal battle will now move to court

Pawan Khera, Political Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, is all set keep his promise to file a civil and criminal defamation suit against Arvind Kejriwal. He will take the step when the courts open after an extended Puja and Eid vacation on 30 October.

Khera had earlier sent a legal notice to the India Against Corruption (IAC)-activist-turned-politician, asking him to withdraw the derogatory remarks he had used against the CM  (Kejriwal referred to her as a “dalal”) within a certain timeframe. He alleged that the remarks were intended to “maliciously defame the Chief Minister and thus all those working in close proximity with her.”

But Kejriwal has declined to do so and the time period has elapsed. Khera confirmed to Firstpost that he was “going ahead with the legal process and will file cases against him after the courts open.”  His lawyer Mahmood Pracha said the necessary legal consequences of Kejriwal’s illegal acts — where he also restored power connections to some parties that hadn’t paid their bills —  will follow.

Like Kejriwal, Khera, too, comes from an NGO background and has been a permanent fixture in Sheila Dikhsit’s office as Officer on Special Duty or in other positions since the time she became Chief Minister in 1998. It was in the early years of Dikshit’s regime in Delhi that Kejriwal and Khera came into contact with each other. Kejriwal was still with the income-tax department at that time, but had also been engaged in issues involving reform of the public distribution system. Dikshit was keen to involve individuals and NGOs who had some constructive suggestions to offer.

Though the relationship was never close they remained in contact. Khera had useful contacts with Kiran Bedi’s NGO also. He was one of the most visible and curious faces, along with Sandeep Diskhit, Congress MP, when a compromise formula was being hammered out between Team Anna and the UPA government during last year’s Lokpal movement. A formula was indeed evolved and the movement was then called off in August. Their relationship remained healthy and some opposition politicians even hinted that Team Anna was not taking up the Commonwealth Games scams in Delhi due to this linkage.

Things, however, changed after Kejriwal chose to shed his activist role to don the politician’s cap - with ‘I am Aam Aadmi’ emblazoned on it, something that the Congress thought was patented by it.

The legal battle between Kejriwal and Khera will, no doubt, be fought in court, but the bigger battle is for the political turf in Delhi.  Khera owes his position to Sheila Dikshit, something that is mentioned in the legal notice also, and thus has an interest in her continuance at the helm without blemish. Kejriwal, and his yet-to-be-named party, want to help unseat her.

Though his brief intervention was high on media coverage, Kejriwal has already positioned himself in the electoral arena in Delhi as the third party - the other two being Congress and BJP.  Though the BJP had been sporadically protesting against the government’s decision to raise power tariffs in Delhi, Kejriwal stole the show by getting the media to follow him when he connected the power lines for some households whose supplies had been cut for non-payment of dues. Six FIRs were filed against persons whose power lines were reconnected by Kejriwal and his team. They have since paid up the dues and have sought the quashing of FIRs. The Delhi government has also recently reduced the tariffs. Kejriwal claimed credit, but the Congress said it was part of a natural administrative reform process.

Khera will use Kejriwal’s alleged reference to Dikshit as a “dalal” in an interview to Total TV on 10 October to pursue the case against him. The legal notice sent by his lawyer claimed that repeated references to the word “dalal” caused “damage to the otherwise absolutely impeccable and clean image” of his client on account of his association with the Chief Minister.

It is clearly a battle between someone who is sitting at the top of the ruling establishment and someone who is challenging the dispensation and is aspiring to be a powerhouse on his own terms in Delhi.

The moot point is: who will Kejriwal hurt more, the Congress or the BJP? Opinion in Delhi’s political class is divided. Congress sympathisers believe he could eat into the anti-incumbency vote, which could have gone to the BJP. The BJP hopes that when people got to the polling booth, they will change their minds in favour of the party since a vote for Kejriwal may end up being a wasted vote.

As things stands, we will know the people’s verdict earlier than the court’s since elections are due exactly a year from now in 2013.