This Article is From Feb 26, 2014

'Mango man' Arvind Kejriwal does it again

'Mango man' Arvind Kejriwal does it again
New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal resigned on Friday evening, 49 days after he was sworn-in as Delhi's seventh chief minister at the Ramlila Maidan. His Aam Aadmi Party, which made a spectacular electoral debut riding on its promise to rid Delhi of corruption, had formed government in the national capital, with outside support from the Congress, on December 28, 2013.

Your 10-point cheat-sheet to the Kejriwal phenomenon:

  1. At 45, Arvind Kejriwal was one of Delhi's youngest chief ministers. In his first election, he defeated three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit in her constituency of New Delhi by some 22,000 votes.

  2. A mechanical engineer from IIT-Kharagpur, Mr Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service in 1995. He left his job as a tax official in 2001 to embark on a career as an anti-corruption campaigner that would lead to national fame.

  3. After leaving government service, he campaigned to bring in India's Right to Information Act in 2005, which earned him the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2006.

  4. In 2011, he teamed up with activist Anna Hazare to demand the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, which creates a national ombudsman to investigate venality among elected representatives and bureaucrats.

  5. Though their demands went unheeded and their relationship ultimately soured, the campaign planted Mr Kejriwal onto the national stage.The Lokpal Bill was passed by Parliament days before Mr Kejriwal took oath.

  6. On November 15, 2012, Mr Kejriwal launched the Aam Aadmi Party, earning the ire of Anna, who wanted it to remain an apolitical movement.

  7. Using tactics popularised by US President Barack Obama, the party raised nearly 20 crores ($3.2 million) through small donations - with supporters' names listed on the website.

  8. As chief minister, the father-of-two has refused security and a big bungalow - status symbols for politicians in the capital. He has been traveling mostly in his blue compact Wagon R car.

  9. In January, weeks after he took over the reins of government, Mr Kejriwal launched an unprecedented 33-hour protest on the streets against the Delhi Police and the Centre. The Chief Minister spent one night sleeping on the road.

  10. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra handed Mr Kejriwal his most memorable nickname in an outburst last year, in which he branded AAP as "mango people in a banana republic".



Post a comment
.