Wind is in favour of Modi, let's not hastily jump to conclusions, Arun Jaitley tells Aap Ki Adalat

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley has rubbished speculations that the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party could act as a spoiler for Narendra Modi in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Replying to questions from Rajat Sharma in India TV's show Aap Ki Adalat, Jaitley said: "The wind is in favour of Modi ji and not against him..you can't change the trend of national politics with a single trend. All the surveys and opinion polls that have taken place in the nation's politics in the last 2-3 years clearly show Narendra Modi as the most popular leader...He is the main face of the wave of change sweeping the country. So, let us not jump to conclusions in haste."Asked about the future of Congress-supported AAP government in Delhi, the BJP leader said, the people of Delhi and India will see how costly the dependence on Congress support will be for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party."After seeing the dependability of Congress and the assembly proceedings, I feel as if the Congress has start owning it up that it is a coalition government. "The Aam Aadmi party is running a government sitting on the shoulders of the country's most corrupt party against which it contested the elections. Let's see, when things will move further the people of Delhi and India will see how costly this dependence will be. "BJP never wanted to do this type of politics. I always feel there is no last day in the calendar of politics, politics moves on. We got 32 seats, our assessment was 38-40 seats. "We were the biggest party, got the highest share of votes, if we talk of mandate, our party's claim was the first, we could not have taken the support of either AAP or the Congress. Dr Harsh Vardhan therefore decided from day one and rejected demands to forge a coalition government."Jaitley described the move by AAP ministers and MLAs shunning beacon fitted official cars and VIP culture as "showmanship"."Our Goa chief minister goes to office on his two-wheeler but the national media is in Delhi and not in Goa.."I have gone to Mamata Banerjee's home..Probably no politician lives a more austere life than her. There are many such people in national politics." I have been in Parliament for the last 14 years but never stayed for a day in a government bungalow. We don't show off doing such things by displaying them on our arms. Had he been austere, why did he (Kejrwal) take two houses of 5-5 bedrooms each."On Kejriwal government announcing 20,000 litres of free water every month and hiking up subsidies to halve power bills in Delhi, Jaitley said, "the states which provided cheap power to farmers have found that such sops alone are not enough to win elections. "Today, there are 30 per cent localities in Delhi which are unauthorised and do not have laid pipelines. Most of the people who live in slums do not have tap water. "The first priority should have been to increase the network and supply water to all for a reasonable time. All this (free sop) is out of the purview of this system. "There are water connections which are unmetered, which is against the system. There are defective meters, which are also against the system." Only those having metered connections and limiting their consumption will benefit. Co-operative housing societies are out of this domain. You can give subsidies which every government gives, but the benefit of subsidies should reach the weaker sections."Jaitley admitted that his assessment about Delhi polls was a mistake, but added that he and Sushma Swaraj already knew there was an undercurrent going on in Delhi. He denied having said that the AAP would not get more than 6 seats in Delhi. "Many people had this assessment (AAP wll not cross 6 seats), but it was not my personal assessment. It is my habit that whenever a party contests elections, I make an assessment, both politicial and through professional methods, on a regular basis. " In the last one month it was clear to me and I had written in my blog two weeks before the polls that Congress would come to its lowest position, lower than even 33 pc that it got in 1977 and it was 25 pc. "I also felt that in urban areas BJP's contest will be against AAP. Since their (AAP) campaign was silent, several candidates and party workers could not assess this, but when we sat with the leaders of Delhi, myself and Sushma Swaraj ji suggested several times that they should identify the undercurrent. Both of us had identified this undercurrent within the party."Jaitley said, BJP's decision not to form a government in Delhi despite being the largest single party was not a mistake. "I don't think it was a mistake. So long as we didn't have 36 seats, we couldn't have formed the government. We could have tried to break others, but we decided not to."Asked why Dr Manmohan Singh has apologised for the 1984 riots, but Modi was yet to do so for the 2002 Gujarat riots, Jaitley said, "the reason being that those who are opposed to Modi and failed to find out his faults, will then have the argument to say, even if there is no evidence, see, he is tendering apology and so he is guilty. It (Gujarat riots) was unfortunate, but given the history of communal riots in Gujarat, for the last 10-12 years there is complete peace. In such a situation, some people are constantly trying to reopen that chapter."On Snoopgate, the BJP leader rejected the Congress charge that the privacy of a woman was violated by Gujarat police. "It's (charge) all wrong. The woman's father gave a statement saying we are facing harassment and he requested that a surveillance be kept. They Gujarat govt) set up a commission headed by a High court judge, and the facts will come out..The family will go before the commission and give its statement, the woman will also testify and all the facts will come out. So many commissions and inquiries were made (against Modi). In Sohrabuddin case, effort was made to nail him but no evidence was found. In Ishrat Jahan case, attempt was made to nail even the central IB , they tried to nail (Modi) in 2002 riots, but no evidence was found. Now they have got hold of Snoopgate."On former Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa's party merging with BJP, Jaitley admitted that BJP had to "pay the price" for removing him from chiefministership."There were charges against him. A chargesheet has been filed in court. We took action by removing him from the post of CM. And we had to pay the price for removing him. He left the party and we lost the election. Now today he has said he wants to return to our party. So, what should we tell him? Don't return and go and help Congress?"On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark that Modi as PM would be disastrous for the country, Jaitley said: "The post of Prime Minister has a certain sanctity, and there should be dignity in his choice of phrases. The phrases that he used for Modi is highly undignified. "You go through history, there were riots in Gujarat in 2002 unlike 1984. Can Manmohan Singh ji say why not a single man died in police firing in 1984? Here, nearly 200 people died in police firing, meaning police was taking action. 4-5,000 cases were registered, people were convicted in 1800 cases. What happened in 1984?" Since 1947, there has not been a single chief minister against whom so many probes were ordered. Gujarat police investigated, Supreme Court said we will monitor the probes, it itself appointed officials who said there was no evidence. Supreme Court itself said its committee could not find evidence, we will appoint an amicus curiae. Then both the documents were sent to the judge who said he was not guilty. And now Prime Minister says he is a mass murderer. "On one hand, the courts, SIT said no evidences could be found, and yet the PM uses such words which are undignified. I challenge him if he can use such phrases even after a court verdict whether he will use similar words against the man who was prime minister on November 1, 1984?" Jaitley said.