AAP has made a good beginning in LS polls: Medha Patkar

BHOPAL: AAP leader and social activist Medha Patkar today down played her party's rout in the general elections and said although it won only four Lok Sabha seats it was clearly a new beginning.

"There is no doubt that the AAP has made a good beginning although the election results were not upto its expectations," the AAP's star candidate, who contested the LS polls from Mumbai North-East constituency, told reporters.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party, which suffered a severe blow across the country in recents polls, managed to win four Lok Sabha seats of Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala and Sangrur, all in Punjab.

Medha said during the elections, the (Narendra) Modi factor had worked in a pronounced way. Also, money had played a very crucial role, she alleged.

She said election agents in her constituency, where she polled over 75,000 votes, had told her that atleast Rs 20 crores had been spent there.

Speaking about her former party colleague Kiran Bedi, the AAP leader said there was speculation for long that the former IPS officer may join the BJP.

Patkar said she has not been in touch with Bedi for quite some time now.

Replying queries about Kejriwal, she said he may not have taken the right decision by refusing to sign a personal bond as a result of which he spent six days in Tihar jail.

Regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said his term has just begun and "one would have see what he does in office."

On the invitation to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for Modi's swearing-in ceremony, Medha said had the Congress done a similar thing, the BJP would have made a hue and cry.

She lauded Modi for not including former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyuruppa in his cabinet but added "one should not forget that he had made former BJP President Nitin Gadkari a minister."