A day before the crucial National Executive meeting on Saturday that will decide the fate of the two dissident voices — Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav — in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the war between Kejriwal loyalists and the two AAP rebels took an ugly turn with the latter launching a scathing attack on party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for stifling internal democracy and adopting unethical ways to acquire power.
Hours after Bhushan and Yadav held a Press conference, Kejriwal’s loyalists Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan too addressed the media, launching a shrill counter-attack and claimed that the reconciliation talks were on track till 4 pm on Thursday before breaking off. They accused Bhushan and Yadav of telling lies to the media.
launching a broadside on the Chief Minister, both Bhushan and Yadav claimed that Kejriwal even threatened to float a new regional party with all his MlAs as he “cannot work with us”. They accused Kejriwal of having flaws that might be “fatal” for the party that was born out of “a movement unlike most other parties.”
Raising several questions, Yadav said that they were ready to tender their resignations on Saturday morning “for the party” if their five demands were met. listing the five demands, Yadav said: “We raised issues on internal democracy within the AAP. We raised a demand for more powers to State units. We also want the voice of volunteers to be heard in decision-making. We asked them to launch a probe through an internal lokpal into the allegations that have been levelled against the party. Other than that, the transparency that we demand from others should also be applied internally. Finally, we want the posts which are vacant at the national level of the party to be filled.”
Taking a jibe at the Chief Minister, Bhushan said from the time the AAP held a meeting after the lok Sabha elections he repeatedly told Kejriwal that he was acting like a “dictator”. “Arvind never functioned in a democratic way, where views of other people were also taken into consideration. I told him about this flaw a couple of times but he never paid any heed and instead said that is how he works,” Bhushan said.
Yadav said they never raised any question on whether Kejriwal should continue as the party’s national convener or not. “They are spreading lies. We never had any objections to him continuing as party convener. Such questions were never raised by us,” he said. Bhushan also backed Yadav claiming that they never made any demand for Kejriwal’s removal as national convener.
Hours after Bhushan and Yadav held a Press conference in which they slammed the party chief, Kejriwal’s loyalists Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan too addressed the media, launching a shrill counter-attack and claimed that the reconciliation talks were on track till 4 pm on Thursday before breaking off.
“The talks were on track. But suddenly something happened and they said they will no longer continue the negotiations. They must tell the country what happened,” Khetan said. The three leaders also produced a hand-written note which they claimed was written by Yadav apologizing for criticizing Kejriwal.
Singh said the party had agreed to almost all demands made by the two leaders in a communication on March 17 in which Yadav and Bhushan had said they would resign if their demands were met. “We had sent a note to the party listing our demands, which is now being shown as our resignation letter, whereas it was a conditional letter to resign. We had said if our five demands are met, we will resign from all party posts,” Yadav said.
The duo said they were being pressed to resign during the reconciliation talks and clarified that they never raised the issue of the post of party convener during the discussions. “Why is it that if we raise any issue, our intent is questionedIJ” Yadav asked, adding their fight was not for personal gains but to restore the AAP’s founding principles.
Yadav also alleged that the party’s constitution had been removed from the AAP’s official website. Bhushan slammed Kejriwal for allegedly trying to poach Congress MlAs to form a Government in Delhi last year. “The National Executive had rejected a proposal to form a Government by taking support of the Congress. Despite that, Kejriwal sent a letter to lieutenant-Governor Jung asking him not to dissolve the Assembly,” he said.