Since then, the latter has also shown his less appealing sides. One of them is his palpable sense of insecurity. It is evident that Kejriwal is wary of anyone matching his stature. Hence, the marching orders which he gave to Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who could have held their own in an argument. It is the Manish Sisodias who are preferred by Kejriwal.

The reason why the Aam Admi Party (AAP) couldn’t accommodate Navjot Singh Sidhu was that like Yadav and Bhushan , the articulate Sardar could have out-talked Kejriwal.

Moreover, in the unlikely possibility of Sidhu becoming the Punjab chief minister, his position would have been a step higher than that of Kejriwal, who is the chief minister of a mere Union Territory. Although there is no chance of the scam-ridden AAP winning in Punjab, Kejriwal simply couldn’t take the risk.

If Kejriwal is overtly “power hungry”, Anna played a more subtle game till the Delhi winter of 2011 pricked his balloon of popularity. Before that, Anna was riding high with one “indefinite” fast after another in protest against the Congress’s irredeemable corruption and in support of his demand for a Lokpal.

But when Anna shifted his base to Mumbai to avoid Delhi’s winter, it was clear that his anti-corruption crusade was no more than a summer excursion. Not surprisingly, the failed messiah of Ralegan Siddhi has faded away. But not before Kejriwal had succeeded in cashing in on his fleeting popularity to embark on his own power trip.

As is now obvious, neither guru nor his chela has measured up to popular expectations. Instead, both of them have exposed themselves as canny players who posed as saviours of the nation while exploiting the anger against the Congress’s corrupt record to buttress their own agendas.

Anna’s game plan was to present himself as the revered sage and counsellor who was above the rough-and-tumble of politics of which he was disdainful any way. He said while his acolyte Kiran Bedi chanted “Anna is India, India is Anna” that both politicians and voters were “bikau” or purchasable.

Kejriwal’s objective was to attain power on the pretext of eliminating corruption. That he was remarkably successful in fooling the public was evident in the AAP’s success in winning an overwhelming majority in the Delhi assembly.

But, then, the bubble burst. After all, camouflaging personal ambition in the garb of the noble cause of elevating politics to new heights is not easy. Kejriwal’s first mistake – apart from going on a hunger strike during another Delhi winter – was to use his tenure to launch a campaign to bring statehood to Delhi.

While other chief ministers quietly accepted the status quo even if they also wanted Delhi to be a full state, they never spent virtually all their time fighting the Lieutenant-Governor and the centre at the expense of improving the condition of the city. It is evident that governance is not high on Kejriwal’s list of priorities.

But the biggest blow has been the sex-lies-and-videotape scandals that have afflicted the party of supposedly lily-white members. As a result, the chances of the AAP repeating its electoral performance of February, 2015, in Delhi are slim, as they are of successfully making its presence felt in other states.

Both Anna and Kejriwal can be regarded as nine-day wonders who were beneficiaries of the Congress’s precipitous decline from 2011-12 as the party’s familiar dalliance with corruption came to light and Manmohan Singh’s focus on economic development waned.

But for these fateful developments, the guru-chela combination would have remained in the shadows as before. What their supporters – there are probably still a few – might rue, however, is how recklessly they threw away a golden opportunity when they were regarded as knights in shining armour.

It is obvious, of course, from subsequent events that they simply did not have the calibre to fulfil the high expectations. Their ordinariness was bound to come to the fore. What their failure shows, however, is that only established political parties with a long record of undergoing the ups and downs of electoral politics can be relied upon.

At the moment, the BJP and the Congress represent such parties along with regional outfits like the DMK/AIADMK, Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, the Akali Dal and others. There is no place in this system for political entrepreneurs, let alone self-proclaimed anarchists and woolly-headed idealists.

As an alumnus of the IIT, Kejriwal can be regarded as more qualified than many other mainstream politicians to make a success of a political venture. This cannot be said of Anna who has been described as a well-meaning if somewhat dotty neighbourhood uncle. (IPA Service)