Headlines
AAP stares at split as internal crisis escalates
New Delhi, March 26
Less than two months after
it stormed to power in Delhi, the AAP appeared set for a split with the
party saying on Thursday that senior leaders Prashant Bhushan and
Yogendra Yadav had quit its national executive and the two men
vehemently denying this.
Making the announcement two days before
the executive meets here, AAP spokesman Ashish Khetan said Bhushan and
Yadav appeared dead set against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,
the party's best known face who assumed office on February 14.
"They
say one thing in private and another in public," Khetan told the media,
adding he had been involved in days of close-door discussions with both
men over issues confronting India's youngest political party.
The
comments came two days ahead of the Aam Aadmi Party's national
executive meeting where both sides -- the Kejriwal camp and supporters
of Bhushan and Yadav -- could have had a showdown.
Delhi's Deputy
Chief Minister Manish Sisodia added that close-door talks with Bhushan
and Yadav had failed as they were adamant that Kejriwal must go as the
party's all-powerful national convener.
“No effort to remove Kejriwal is acceptable to me," added Sisodia, a long-time confidant of the chief minister.
“Despite
accepting all their demands, they are insisting (on the removal of)
AK," he added, referring to Kejriwal. "In public they say AK is the
leader, in private they insist on his removal."
Another AAP
leader, Kumar Vishwas, said all the five proposals of Bhushan and Yadav
were accepted by the party but their demand for axing Kejriwal as the
national convener would only be decided by the national executive.
In
the mounting war of words, Bhushan and Yadav denied the charges made
against them. A defiant Bhushan added that Kejriwal wanted only "yes
men" around him and not those with independent views.
Both are to hold a press conference on Friday, a development that could generate more heat.
A
founder member of the AAP and a leading Supreme Court advocate, Bhushan
told the media that it was a lie to say that he and Yadav wanted to see
Kejriwal step down as the national convenor.
"This is a lie, we never made this demand," he said. "All we have asked for is transparency in the party."
Yadav,
a known political expert, agreed and asked Kejriwal loyalists to
produce his resignation letter -- if he had indeed resigned.
"What is being passed off as 'resignation letter' is a note for internal negotiations," Yadav said in a tweet.
He said it was "ridiculous" to say he and Bhushan demanded Kejriwal's removal as the national convenor.
"This wasn't mentioned in our note, never came up for discussion. Can they give any proof?" he asked.
Yadav
added: "I hear funny news about the PAC (Political Affairs Committee)
accepting our resignation. Will my colleagues please produce a copy of
the resignation letter?"
The AAP has been embroiled in an
internal tussle after taking power in Delhi last month, with the
pro-Kejriwal camp accusing Bhushan and Yadav of trying to oust the chief
minister. Both have denied the charge.
Bhushan and Yadav were
sacked from the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), the party's top
decision making body, earlier this month in the first open sign that all
was not well with the AAP.
That was accompanied by a war of words between Bhushan and Yadav on the one hand and known supporters of Kejriwal on the other.
Once
Kejriwal returned to New Delhi after 10 days of naturopathy in
Bengaluru, the situation calmed -- publicly -- but the two factions held
a series of close-door discussions to sort out various issues.
From the dramatic developments on Thursday, efforts to bring about a unity between the two groups appear to have fizzled out.