Political storm has hit the Punjab unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). A day after 16 party leaders, including six district chiefs, tendered their resignations from party posts in protest against the state unit co-president Dr Balbir Singh, the party’s state leadership has gone into tizzy on Monday.
Party MlA from Bholath and the leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Singh Khaira has decided to meet the state party president and senior leader Bhagwant Mann to discuss the issue.
Notably, 16 AAP leaders, including six district unit presidents, had resigned from their posts on Sunday to register protest against Dr Balbir’s “arbitrary decisions”.
Party leaders, in a joint resignation letter addressed to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and state party affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia, said that Dr Balbir had taken several “wrong decisions” from the time he was appointed the state co-president due to which the party’s graph was plummeting in the state.
They demanded that AAP should be saved and workers should be listened to, and people like Dr Balbir should be removed from the party so that it is strengthened in Punjab.
Terming as “unfortunate” the resignation of 16 leaders from party posts, Khaira described it as party’s internal matter.
“I will meet party’s state chief Bhagwant Mann and will urge him to call a special meeting of AAP office-bearers to sort out the issue. We will listen to the grievances of party leaders who have resigned,” said Khaira.
At the same time, Khaira rubbished the reports that the resignations were fallout of differences between him and Dr Balbir Singh.
Notably, AAP’s Punjab leadership is hit by sharp infighting between Khaira and Dr Balbir. Sharp differences between the two were witnessed during a press briefing where Khaira bitterly contradicted Dr Balbir on the controversy surrounding MlA’s statement on the issue of “Referendum 2020”.
In the immediate aftermath of Khaira’s statement on ‘Referendum 2020”, Dr Balbir had issued a statement saying that AAP did not support what Khaira had said and that an explanation will be sought from him on his statement.