Brewing discontent in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) surfaced on Tuesday when party member Rakesh Agarwal, who is also secretary of an NGO, called a Press conference in the Capital to demand more organisational democracy but was shouted down by auto-rickshaw drivers supporting AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
“Anguished” over getting no reply to his open letter to Kejriwal about democracy in party, Agarwal, an AAP member and a part of an NGO working for auto-rickshaw drivers in Delhi, had called the Press meet to put forward his three-point charter of demands which include immediate setting up of a team to define the governance agenda, democratise and decentralise party structure by holding internal elections, withdrawal from vote bank politics and abolishing all religion and caste based cells.
But as soon as Agarwal began his conference, around 15-20 auto-rickshaw drivers barged in and cried foul alleging harassment by him. They also blamed Agarwal for bungling of funds in his NGO and demanded an answer from him. “These people have been sent to ruin my Press conference by some of the AAP leaders who don’t want to hear any dissenting views or about democracy in the party,” said Agarwal.
He alleged that the AAP did not have any governing agenda and “if the party comes to power, and if they fail to deliver then people will lose faith on such movements for years.” Agarwal said he had written an open letter to Kejriwal on the issue but had not received any reply from him, and if “I don’t get any reply by November 21, I will go on indefinite fast.”
Also there was a lack of democracy in the party as those holding posts have not been elected but nominated. “I demand that elections should be held and democracy in the party should be restored,” he said, adding there was no need for any cells for Sikhs in the party as it would promote vote bank politics. However, he supported Kejriwal and the party on the issue of foreign funding, saying the party has received money from NRIs and it is not illegal.