Less Than A Month After Making History, AAP Juggernaut Falling Apart With Divisions And Firings
Senior AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were removed from the party’s key decision-making political affairs committee (PAC), days after they questioned the functioning of party convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
NEW DELHI – The AAP reassigned Yadav as the head of its farmers’ committee while he will continue to be a member of the national executive, sources said, as a the rookie party battled a growing dissent in its ranks.
“Apart from not being in the PAC, he will also not be the party spokesperson anymore,” a source said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the 21-member national executive in the Capital, which Delhi chief minister Kejriwal failed to attend ostensibly because of ill health.
The deep factionalism in the AAP surfaced after letters from one camp questioned Kejriwal’s style of functioning and the absence of an internal ethics committee.
According to reports, eight members of the PAC voted in favour of Bhushan and Yadav, while 11 votes went against the two leaders.
When asked about his reaction, Yadav said, “I am not authorised to divulge the decision made at the national executive meet.”
“Whatever the decision, I shall fulfill the responsibilities given to me as a disciplined party worker.”
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal offered to resign as the party’s convenor. The Delhi CM’s resignation offer was rejected by the AAP’s national executive after the marathon six-hour meeting.
According to media reports, the PAC is being reconstituted and Bhushan may also be assigned new responsibilities within the party.
Senior advocate and AAP leader HS Phoolka accused Yadav and his associates of being hungry for power and described the senior leader as a destabilising influence within the party.
“There are others who are very keen about posts. The national executive will decide today about why these people are trying to destabilise the party,” he said.
When asked who the “other” people were, Phoolka said, “Yogendra Yadav and group.”
According to sources, Yadav came under attack in the meeting for allegedly leaking information to a reporter which was later used in a column.
“A section of the party leaders attacked Yadav accusing him of leaking information for an article that was published
in a national daily,” a source said.
The AAP, which won a record mandate in the recently held Delhi assembly elections, has been struggling to paper over the cracks after a series of leaked letters revealed factionalism with one camp criticising what it described as a “one-person-centric campaign”- a veiled reference to Kejriwal – and the absence of an internal ethics committee.
Yadav and Bhushan were reportedly asked to put forth their clarifications in the national executive on the statements they have made in the past two weeks criticising the party’s functioning.
The national executive was meant to be the real executive body of the AAP and the PAC was to operate and take quick calls between two national executive meetings.
But, as Yadav had earlier pointed out, the PAC had become all powerful, and fewer and fewer national executive meets were taking place, limiting decision-making only to a few people.
Kejriwal was said to be not comfortable with the presence of Bhushan and Yadav in the PAC and wanted more freedom.
The hatchet may or may not be buried at the meeting with the removal of the two leaders from the PAC, the disquiet bubbling underneath in the party’s rank and may remain.
“The sticky point is expanding the party’s national footprint, but Kejriwal is not completely convinced with the idea.
Yadav and Prashant and some others are in favour of an expansion. This difference will not resolve on its own. Moreover, those who swear by the party’s constitution would not give up the issue of transparency very easily,” an AAP leader said.
