Santosh Hegde raises doubts about success of Kejriwal's party

Former Karnataka Lokayukta and Team Anna member Justice N Santosh Hegde has raised doubts about the success of the party launched by Arvind Kejriwal.

"My only apprehension is how far will a political party survive because of the very many demands of the political system, these days. It requires a huge amount of money to elect nearly 546 Members of Parliament from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. It is not going to be an easy job," he said.

"It is a good thing in principle, but in reality, can it succeed?" Hegde, a member of Team Anna of which Kejriwal was also a part two months ago, asked.

He was asked how he expects Arvind Kejriwal's newly-launched 'Aam Aadmi Party' to perform.

The former Supreme Court judge also said that there is nothing wrong in bringing the Prime Minister under the jurisdiction of Lokpal as like others he is also a public servant. "What is wrong in the Lokpal having jurisdiction over the Prime Minister? Is the Prime Minister not a public servant? Aren't there cases of corruption against PMs in other countries? In Japan, you find every other year a Prime Minister is prosecuted. (Former US President Richard) Nixon was prosecuted... What is so great about the PM?," he asked.

Noting that the position of the Lokpal was akin to "giving a dog a bad name and kicking it", he said that there have been allegations of corruption against Indian Pms in the past and added that only the President and Governors are excluded from being prosecuted and not the PM.

"We have had allegations of corruption against two former PMs – Bofors and the JMM bribery case. In a democracy, how can a person merely because he is holding an office be excluded from prosecution? The Constitution excludes the prosecution of the President and the Governors in some cases... One can't apply the same principle on a man who passes executive orders on a daily basis," he said.

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