Days after Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann expressed solidarity with party MlA and the leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Sukhpal Khaira after summoning by a local court in a drug case, murmurs of dissent from within are turning into boisterous voices.
With many senior leaders and MlAs already coming together against Khaira, a senior party leader Himmat Singh Shergill on Sunday raised a banner of revolt against him for facing drug taint.
Mincing no words, Shergill said: “If there was any such allegation against me, I would have resigned in a minute.”
At the same time, Shergill said that in case the HC’s decision come against Khaira, he would step down from the coveted post of leader of Opposition.
“He, himself, will be resigning after considering the party’s tradition,” he added.
Shergill said that AAP is a party with ideology. “Khaira himself is also associated with the party ideology. And if any adverse decision comes, he should himself resign. But we should wait for what happens in the court.”
A Fazilka court has recently issued summons to Khaira in 2015 drug case as an “additional accused”, which led to a political turmoil in the state with the ruling Congress and its arch-rival SAD-BJP combine coming together on one platform to attack the third front, AAP.
Dubbing it as a “classic instance of political vendetta”, Khaira had challenged the Fazilka court’s order in the Punjab and Haryana High Court asserting that every attempt was being made to rope him in as an accused with the solitary purpose to tarnish his reputation and public perception.
The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Monday.
Shergill added that AAP never supported any unlawful activity, nor it has ever wrongly defended its any of the party leader in a serious issue.
“The party is aware of the entire issue and it would take a call in the matter,” he added.
Meanwhile, party’s state unit secretary Pardeep Malhotra has also joined chorus with a section of party legislators to demand Khaira’s resignation from the post of leader of Opposition on moral grounds.
“AAP is a different political party than the traditional ones having value for ethics. Khaira should have set an example by resigning at his own but still he has the chance to strengthen the ideology of the party by resigning,” he said.
Malhotra said that if Khaira comes out clean, he can again be reinstated as the leader of Opposition.
“The party has strongly criticised the Akalis and highlighted the drug menace at every front, how AAP can tolerate a drug taint leader and have double standard,” he added.