The simmering discontent in the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since its lok Sabha poll debacle came to the fore on Saturday when two of its key members, Shazia Ilmi and Captain GR Gopinath, quit citing differences with the party leadership.
A highly discontented Ilmi slammed AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘jail politics’ and highlighted the absolute lack of ‘internal democracy’ within the party. Indicating an emerging dissidence within the party, she also said several other MlAs and MPs along with scores of supporters from the party are discontent with the ‘gatekeepers’ of Kejriwal for a lack of communication.
The party, which is battling internal fissures and fast losing popularity on its home turf — Delhi, got a body blow with the resignation of one of its founder members — Shazia Ilmi. Accompanied by her husband, sister-in-law and her children, she made the ‘big’ announcement on Saturday afternoon at the Press Club of India.
Claiming that a ‘crony clique’ around Kejriwal was calling the shots, Ilmi, who had lost the lok Sabha polls from Ghaziabad, declared, “After much thought and deliberation I have decided to give up my membership of AAP and resign from all positions within the party. My decision to leave the party is triggered by the lack of inner party democracy, especially from a party that constantly talks of Swaraj.” At the same time, she clarified she is not joining any other party as of now.
Vehemently disapproving Kejriwal’s ‘jail politics’ and the party’s ways of holding dharnas, she clearly indicated that the party is turning directionless with time and is not ready to change its stand. A disappointed Ilmi also pointed out that the AAP took a number of ‘impulsive decisions’ without consulting its other members. “One strongly believes that instead of wasting our collective energy in the bail-jail imbroglio, Arvind (Kejriwal) should have taken the bond, gone back to the people, met our candidates and the people there,” she said.
“When a brilliant person like Arvind, who espoused the concept of Swaraj of collective making, is unable to follow it personally within the party, then doesn’t it become incumbent to point out the same,” she said. Ilmi also said there was a need to “reinvent the party”.
“The perpetuation of sensationalism may have helped us to make our point initially, but continuing to use it as a norm defeats the exercise of trust reposed in us by the public. Is naming some corporate houses and politicians enoughIJ We played a role of galvanising public opinion and converting it into a political party, but when we became a political party, it needed to evolve and not just assume the garb of agitation,” Ilmi said.
While resigning from AAP, Gopinath, pioneer of low-cost air travel in India with Air Deccan who joined the party in January, targeted Kejriwal saying a head of a party cannot indulge in “shoot and scoot politics” and questioned his refusal to furnish a bail bond in the defamation case filed against him by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari.
In a communication to AAP’s Karnataka convener Prithvi Reddy, Gopinath said, “I would like to resign from the membership of the Aam Aadmi Party with immediate effect because of increasing differences with the party leadership and its ways.”