In a jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the National Executive member Ashok Agarwal on Tuesday quit the party, saying it has become “directionless” and functions like a private limited company.
In a letter to the party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Agarwal, who has been associated with the party since its founding days, said he joined the party for strong principles, but the goals for which it was created for are getting lost.
“The movement seems to have become directionless causing doubts in the minds of people and even people like me who are today feeling the party is functioning like a private company. The connect with the aam aadmi is on the wane and a group of elite individuals is promoted to take over the party. The Aam Aadmi has taken a backseat and what’s on the mind of such individuals is personal projection at the cost of that very aam aadmi vision,” Agarwal said in the letter. Agarwal, a practicing Supreme Court lawyer and an educationist was recently denied ticket from Chandni Chowk parliamentary seat. From the constituency, the AAP had made former journalist Ashutosh its nominee.
The National Executive Committee is the second-most important committee in the party after the Political Affairs Committee. Confirming Agarwal’s quitting, party’s national spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said, “He never raised these issues at the party forum. Had he done, we would have addressed the issues.” He said that the party learnt about his resignation through the media. The AAP sources also said that Agarwal was keen to contest from Chandni Chowk, but the party fielded former journalist Ashutosh from the constituency. Despite repeated attempts, Agarwal could not be contacted. On the one hand, when new people are joining the newly formed outfit, some members who have been associated with the party since its inception days are quitting.
Former AAP leader Madhu Bhaduri, a former diplomat, quit the party and condemned the Khirki Extension case in which Somnath Bharti, then Delhi’s law’s Minister, undertook a midnight raid on Ugandan women’s residence. Another National Council member Ashwini Upadhaya had also accused the party of “parachuting” candidates and deviating from its goals.