File photo: Arvind Kejriwal during the campaign for Delhi assembly elections.
The incomprehensible breadth of Arvind Kejriwal's victory in the Delhi election is spawning some serious attempts at cloning.
In Tamil Nadu, former union minister Anbumani Ramadoss admits that he's incorporating Kejriwal-esque tactics for his campaign ahead of next year's state election. "We would meet the people door-to-door like the Aam Aadmi Party did and ask them to give us one chance, tell them 'we would give you a corruption free government'."
Mr Ramadoss, 46, heads the youth wing of the PMK, the regional party the PMK founded by his father. He has been named his party's presumptive Chief Minister. For decades, the Tamil Nadu government has been formed by either Jayalalalithaa's AIADMK or M Karunanidhi's DMK. Over the years, Mr Ramadoss has earned the tag of an opportunist, see-sawing between the two main parties with offers of support in a desperate attempt to be aligned with the winner.
Mr Kejriwal's famous apology to Delhi, for abandoning government just 49 days after he formed it last year, endeared him to voters, who gave him a historic victory when he sought a second term as Chief Minister. Mr Ramadoss plans to follow that lead. "We would apologize to people that our repeated alliance with the DMK and AIADMK was a blunder," he told NDTV.
In the national election last year, Mr Ramadoss partnered with the BJP and won his constituency. For the state election next year, he is open to working again with the BJP. " We want to lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu. BJP can join us," he said.
In another borrowing from Mr Kejriwal, he vows corruption-free governance through complete transparency for services that usually see the common man harassed for bribes. "The entire services like obtaining a licence or birth or community certificate would be online, and the system would ensure these are provided in a week or explain reasons for denial," he said.