Quid pro bro: When Kejriwal hugged Lalu and had everyone tearing up on Twitter

Big claims and moral high grounds were done and dusted when Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, self-proclaimed anti-corruption crusader and the chief architect of the India Against Corruption movement led by Anna Hazare in 2011, shared the stage with Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, fodder scam convict. This climactic "coming together" happened at Bihar's chief minister Nitish Kumar's swearing-in ceremony, where the two joined hands and buried the proverbial hatchet.

The crushing irony in Kejriwal's embrace of Lalu was not lost to Twitter, which was quick to dig up this 2013 tweet by the Delhi CM, when it seemed he wouldn't stop until he had had Lalu locked away in a dark dingy jail for life for the "crores" the former Bihar CM had made in the "fodder scam".

Laloo made crores in fodder scam. But no order for recovery of that money. Just 25 lakh fine and few years in jail. A sweet deal

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 3, 2013

Kejriwal's accusation that Lalu was being afforded a "sweet deal" came back to haunt him today, when Twitterati, including a few suitably amused journalists, had a rollicking time lightly deriding the volte-face.

That de-escalated quickly. pic.twitter.com/8H6Xuj4xJz

— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) November 20, 2015

Arvind Kejriwal's still fighting corruption?i see him embracing Lalu at the swearing in ceremony? Some1 update me on what he's fighting now?

— Samidha Sharma (@samidhas) November 20, 2015

Kejriwal has the final authority when it comes 2 fighting corruption. Gives Lalu a clean chit. So he's innocent. Period #BiharShowsTheWay

— Amit Sinha (@kitabi_o_keeda) November 20, 2015

Kejriwal was always known for his U-turn. But his hugging of Lalu, after calling him the king of corruption, is a Ewww-turn

— The Bad Doctor (@doctoratlarge) November 20, 2015

@dhaval241086 And see the difference in level of comfort when Kejriwal meets Lalu and Modi... pic.twitter.com/yQPAzfhNCt

— Nationalist (@Marwari_tweet) November 20, 2015

Can't blame Kejriwal for supporting Lalu Yadav, he needs to understand corruption more closely in order to stop corruption

— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) November 20, 2015

In Kejriwal's defence, his firm support to the "anti-BJP alliance", which informally comprises Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former Delhi CM and Kejriwal's arch-nemesis Sheila Dikshit, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, among others, has reaped benefits already, with Modi-led BJP suffering two successive defeats by huge margins.

Gandhi Maidan created history. Lalu met Kejriwal, Shiv Sena met Nitish, Mamta was with Left etc etc. All these contradictions is due to Modi

— milind khandekar (@milindkhandekar) November 20, 2015

Sanghis asking me what is Kejriwal doing with Lalu in this picture? Morons, at least he is doing something! pic.twitter.com/uvBqyQPHKo

— Eminent Intellectual (@padhalikha) November 20, 2015

Apart from Kejriwal, even Nitish Kumar is likely to twiddle his chief ministerial thumb with Lalu cleverly slipping in his inexperienced young sons, Tejaswi and Tej Pratp, into the cabinet. It seems Tej had fumbled while reading his oath and was asked to repeat it! Well, that doesn't augur quite well now, does it?!

Tej Pratap Yadav takes oath of office in Nitish Kumar's cabinet. He makes an error & is asked to repeat oath pic.twitter.com/7vC5xHAmjp

— ANI (@ANI_news) November 20, 2015