Top former cop Kiran Bedi joins BJP; may be considered as CM candidate

The Hindu

New Delhi, 15 Jan 2015:  India’s former top cop Kiran Bedi, on Thursday, joined the BJP and is going to be the face of the party in the crucial Delhi elections next month.

 

"Delhi needs a stable, strong, corruption-free government. I have the experience, time and energy to make Delhi a world-class capital city," she declared after becoming an online member in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah and Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Harshvardhan.

 

The party’s surprise move came a day after the Aam Aadmi Party charged the BJP’s Delhi unit president Satish Upadhay’s company with "conflict of interest" in providing faulty metres to Delhi in 2012.

 

On Thursday, Mr. Upadhay was conspicuously absent on the dias.

 

"The BJP will be be strengthened by Kiran Bedi joining the party and afterwards during government formation in Delhi," Mr. Shah said while inducting her into the party.

He, however, declined to say if she was the party’s chief ministerial candidate or whether she will take on Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in the elections.

 

Ms. Bedi, a leading light of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was her inspiration since May when he swept the polls.

 

Ms. Bedi, accompanied by Mr. Shah had met Mr. Modi before arriving to the BJP headquarters for joining the party publicly.

 

With the aim of countering Mr. Kerjriwal, she emphasised her "40 years of administrative experience" and underscored that she had given up her government job when she was overlooked for promotion and alond with it her official bungalow, car and attendants.

 

"I feel I was not been challenged in what was being given to me at the time and immersed myself into social work."

 

She said this was a God-sent moment that she accepted.

 

There is speculation in Delhi circles that former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi may also join the BJP.