The way one discards a use-and-throw napkin, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who has now completely Kejriwalified, seems to have relegated Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal to the shadows. During the oath-taking ceremony of JDS’ Kumaraswamy in Karnataka, Kejriwal got a surprise call, inviting him to be part of the ceremony. When everyone in the opposition got on stage and raised hands to show unity against Modi, as a curtain-raiser for 2019 elections, I tried to spot Kejriwal in there, but in vain.
Many, like me, had the same question. Why wasn’t Kejriwal spotted on stage? Perhaps that is why Raghav Chadha, AAP’s spokesperson, who is accused of accessing confidential budget documents to ‘manage’ companies which donate to AAP, found the need to share Kejriwal’s pictures from Bengaluru.
https://twitter.com/raghav_chadha/status/999233936646688769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
But the fact is that Kejriwal is not taken seriously even in Opposition. It can be seen from the fact that he was snubbed and not invited for the Opposition meeting prior to Presidential Elections last year. He was also kept at bay during the gala dinner for Opposition hosted by Sonia Gandhi on a day 9 CRPF jawans were martyred. Hence, when he received a call to invite him for Kumaraswamy’s swearing in, he was probably surprised.
Even sworn enemies BSP’s Mayawati and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav were seen together on stage with others like CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, whose party won even less than NOTA votes in Karnataka but Kejriwal was conspicuously absent from the ‘show of power’ photo op. Flashback little less than three years back from the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ days during Bihar elections, Kejriwal was prominently placed on the stage, hugging and sharing jokes with fodder scam convict and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Son of same Lalu was on stage in Karnataka, but Kejriwal couldn’t be spotted. But like every other politician worth his salt, Kejriwal couldn’t digest that he has reduced himself to a caricature. He was found retweeting stray image of himself on stage, sandwiched between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
As we inch closer to 2019 General Elections, Kejriwal seems to be running the last mile towards oblivion.