NEW DELHI (Shubham Ghosh) – Kundan Sharma, a UK-based software engineer and supporter of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who had donated a blue WagonR to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, now wants it back.
The NRI, who was once impressed by the party’s action and went forward to donate it his car, motorcycle and thousands of rupees, is reportedly upset with the rift within the party.
In an interview to a news channel, Sharma said they didn’t use the vehicle, which was registered in his wife’s name, much and though he was hesitant to donate the vehicle first, the AAP’s protest demanding justice for Nirbhaya, the young woman who died after being gangraped in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012, forced him to change his mind.
Sharma said he had contacted AAP leader Dilip Pandey to finalise the donation process and then Kejriwal had spoken to him personally on January 1, 2013. Two days later, a driver from the AAP came and picked the car. The AAP convener had also acknowledged the donation on a party’s letter head, Sharma said.
#IDemandMyDonationBackFromAAP: My blue WAGONR,my Bike&lacs of rupees that I donated2AAP http://t.co/XT2UYLkGlX @shashiranjanttv @ravishndtv
— Kundan Sharma (@kundan_scorpio) April 4, 2015
I was die hard fan of AK when I saw AAP from 10000ft & lost hope when I saw it from 10ft. All that glitter is not gold.
— Kundan Sharma (@kundan_scorpio) April 3, 2015
I will b happy if AAP can giv right2get refund of donation instead of right2recall balyan types MLA. Latter looks impossible. So do easy 1.
— Kundan Sharma (@kundan_scorpio) April 2, 2015
But Sharma is now feeling disillusioned with the party and demanded the donation back from the party, including the money. Kejriwal, during his first stint as the chief minister of Delhi for 49 days, had used the WagonR frequently and even refused to take government’s vehicle. He later gifted the car to the AAP’s Rohtak candidate Navin Jaihind last year for campaigning hard for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha poll.
Kejriwal, who became the chief minister of Delhi for the second time on February 14, exactly a year after he had quit the office, now uses an Innova.
The writer is a Bangalore-based journalist and affiliated with oneindia portal.