Mudslinging between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and those expelled reached a new low on Tuesday when the rebel father-son duo of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan called the fledgling party a “khap panchayat” comparing it to the kangaroo courts that dispense justice in Haryana, while key party member Ashish Khetan accused the duo of building an “industry of PIls”.
Meanwhile, continuing its sacking spree, the AAP on Tuesday removed its parliamentary party leader Dharamvira Gandhi and replaced him with Arvind Kejriwal’s loyalist and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann as the leader of the four-member group in the lok Sabha.
Reacting to the development Gandhi said: “Dissidence cannot be suppressed and here lies everything. You cannot expect Gandhi to sit back and not talk against what (wrong) is happening in the party.”
Earlier, launching a virulent attack on the AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant said that the leaders are turning the party into a khap panchayat as it unconstitutionally expelled him, Yogendra Yadav, Ajit Jha and Anand Kumar from the AAP for “gross indiscipline” and “anti-party activities” late on Monday night.
“It’s not AAP, but a khap panchayat. The khap panchayat has a dictator (Kejriwal) and the panchayat members work as per his order and flatter him,” said Prashant. He also lashed out at National Disciplinary Committee members Pankaj Gupta and Ashish Khetan.
Shanti Bhushan, who was once addressed as AAP’s patron, also joined the attack and compared Kejriwal to Adolf Hitler.
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AAP is khap: Bhushan
“He should adopt Hitler’s dress. Since he has adopted his way of life, then why not wear that dress,” said Shanti Bhushan.
On the other hand, training his guns at the dissident duo of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, AAP leader Ashish Khetan said he will not spare them for leveling baseless allegations against him. Khetan, a key member of the Delhi unit said if the charges are proved, he will quit public life. “I am not going to spare the Bhushan family. Either they prove their honesty or my dishonesty. Those who take Government land everywhere, capture houses, how can they call others corruptIJ How did Bhushans build their empireIJ By making an industry of PIls,” alleged Khetan.
He further added: “This time they have attacked an aam aadmi. They have targeted me. I will not spare them. I had come to this city 15 years ago with just Rs 6,500. Whatever I have got today is because of my hard work. I neither own a property nor do I have enough bank balance. If they give evidence that I accepted money for writing a news item, then I will quit politics. If they cannot prove it, then they should quit public life,” he said.
Responding to Khetan’s challenge, Shanti Bhushan dared him to expose them. “let him expose us. He will get exposed. Our family is the most honest family in the country. No one can question our integrity. Neither Prashant’s nor my integrity,” Shanti Bhushan said.
Meanwhile, a day after his expulsion from AAP, Yogendra Yadav said he would strive to create a “new model” and connect with the people by taking out a ‘Swaraj Yatra’ throughout the country in an effort to keep the spirit of the movement “alive”.
On the late night expulsion after months of churning within the party, Yadav said that he has asked AAP National Disciplinary Committee Chairperson Dinesh Waghela to list three reasons behind the extreme step.
“I have asked him to give me three reasons behind our expulsion in spite of our detailed replies to the show-cause notices. We are yet to get a formal copy of the expulsion order. Got to know everything through media till now,” Yadav told reporters on Tuesday evening.
On the ‘Swaraj Yatra’, the seeds of which were sown in the April 14 convention, Yadav said: “Will take out the two-month- long yatra throughout the country tentatively in August and will also hold 30-35 Swaraj Samvads throughout the country including in every city of Haryana.”
The first Samvad is scheduled to be held in Bangalore on April 29 while the second one will take place in Guwahati on May 1. Yadav said the group’s focus would be on the disillusioned sections of AAP, young entrepreneurs and social movement group.