Dissidence within the Aam Aadmi Party surfaced as soon as the party announced the names of its Cabinet Ministers on Tuesday. In the first rebellion in the party, a visibly upset Vinod Kumar Binny, MlA from laxmi Nagar, threatened to make a big exposé against party members, including Kejriwal on Wednesday. The development sent senior party leaders into a tizzy.
In a late evening development, Binny met a prominent Samajwadi Party leader Kundan Singh Rana based in Noida along with four MlAs at his residence in Sector 71. The meeting continued till late night. What prompted Binny to meet Rana is still unknown. However, sources said the laxmi Nagar MlA may quit AAP as he is not pleased over his exclusion from Cabinet. Rana, is considered to be closed with SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav.
A close aide of Manish Sisodia claimed he was unaware of the happenings, while another senior leader Yogendra Yadav could not be reached despite repeated attempts. Binny, who had defeated Congress heavyweight AK Walia from the laxmi Nagar seat, was upbeat over his announcement as a Cabinet Minister.
Soon after the announcement of Cabinet members, Binny rushed to Kejriwal’s residence in Kaushambi where prominent members — Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav — were already present. A few minutes after the meeting, a furious Binny stormed out of Kejriwal’s house and said he would hold a
Press conference on Thursday and will make a big exposé, which could be “embarrassing”.
Sources said he was upset after his name was removed from the list of probables at the instance of a senior party leader to include the name of Madipur MlA Girish Soni. Senior leaders, including Yogendra Yadav is said to be involved in efforts to pacify him and sources said he has been offered the post of Assembly Speaker.