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AAP's founder-leaders expelled for anti- party activities
It was the end of the road for Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) founder-leaders,
Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, with the party expelling them for
“anti-party activitiesâ€.
Besides, Ajit Jha and Anand Kumar were also removed from the party.
The
development came late on Monday night following separate replies of
Bhushan and Yadav, to the show-cause notice for organising an anti-party
meet in Gurgaon last week.
The National Disciplinary Committee
met on April 20, 2015 at 6 pm at 514, VP House to decide on the
complaints against Yadav, Bhushan, Kumar and Jha.
On the request
of the respondents, the committee had earlier extended the deadline for
submitting their explanations by one day, that is, to 3 pm on April 20,
2015.
However, the committee received the responses of Yadav,
Bhushan and Kumar while Jha failed to furnish his response within the
prescribed time.
The committee carefully considered responses furnished by Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar and found them unsatisfactory.
The
committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Yadav, Bhushan and
Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities. They
have violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of
Party's Constitution.
The committee was of the view that Jha had
failed to furnish his response in a stipulated time despite sufficient
time at his disposal.
After examining the evidence put before
it, the committee was of the unanimous view that Jha was also guilty of
gross indiscipline and indulging in anti-party activities.
The committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party.
Earlier,
Bhushan and Yadav described the party's show cause notice as a
"pre-scripted drama where the outcome is already decided and
well-known".
Bhushan accused AAP's general secretary Pankaj Gupta
of accepting Rs.2 crore donation from shell companies and Ashish Khetan
of writing a planted story in a national magazine defending a telecom
company, allegedly involved in 2G spectrum scam.
He reiterated
that the AAP's actions were reminiscent of Stalinist purges, where in
the early years after the Soviet Revolution Stalin's acolytes were both
the accusers and judges of the dissidents both in the party and the
government.
"I received your 'Show Cause Notice' around midnight
on April 17. Frankly, I have been in a dilemma on whether to respond to
this communication. On the one hand it appears part of a pre-scripted
drama where the outcome is already decided and well-known," Yadav said
in his lengthy reply, indicating that he would be ousted from the party.