A new audio tape of a conversation purportedly between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and party member Umesh Kumar surfaced on Friday giving murky twist to the raging infighting in the party which has been in public domain for over a month. This is also a sort of Kejriwal’s first reaction on AAP dissident leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav.
In the audio, Kejriwal is heard using words ‘kameena’ and ‘ghatia’ for the leaders, while making it clear that it is either them or him in the party. The conversation begins with Kumar trying to convince Kejriwal to reconcile with Bhushan and Yadav. However, Kejriwal says that he didn’t come into politics for fighting and also told Kumar that if he believed Bhushan and Yadav were good people he could continue working with them as he would happily leave the AAP. He also said that if need be he would walk away and start another party and leave the AAP to Yadav and Bhushan.
“I didn’t come here for this fighting. I have no interest in it. You can work with Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav if you want and you have my well wishes. If need be I will leave the AAP and start a new party. You all handle the AAP. It’s a very nice team of people like Prof Anand Kumar,” said Kejriwal in the audio, which is yet to be authenticated.
Kejriwal added in the tape that Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha had done enough in the last few weeks to annoy him. “In the last few weeks, the kind of kameenipanti Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha have done, I don’t know how anyone can be so kameena. They said implement RTI, we said okay we are ready and some people are still in talks. They said let volunteers participate, we did that. We agreed to all their terms and then they say that they were just bargaining. “Matlab itne kameene ho tum logIJ What bargaining are you doingIJ Itne ghatia kisam ke insaan ho tum logIJ The low capability people you are calling from our party are pure people. They don’t have black hearts. These people are the ones who actually have black hearts. So, best wishes to you, Umesh. I don’t want to discuss this further. I don’t want anything to do with this and if need be I will take my MlAs and go my separate way,” added Kejriwal.
The tape ended with Kejriwal getting angry at Kumar calling this entire controversy nothing but a tamasha. “What tamasha is thisIJ Work together as a team. This team you’re calling good and nice didn’t leave a single stone unturned to make us lose the election. If they were in any other party, they would’ve been insulted and kicked out. Kameene log hai woh. You don’t know how they are,” he said after which Kumar is heard apologising.