New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in Delhi and Punjab wrote to the party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday, asking him to expel Delhi MLA Amanatullah Khan from the party.
This comes after Khan alleged that senior leader Kumar Vishwas had tried to overthrow Kejriwal and take control of the party. After the AAP loss in Delhi civic body elections, while the party and Kejriwal had blamed electronic voting machines, Vishwas had said AAP needs to introspect.
Khan is a member of the party’s political affairs committee the highest decision making body of AAP.
In separate letters, the leaders said Khan made the comments to malign Vishwas’s image and create a wedge in the party.
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Imran Hussain, Delhi minister for environment and food tweeted, “Amanatullah has lost his mental balance.”
Vishwas is one of the founding members of the party and was associated with the India Against Corruption movement, where the AAP has its roots.
“If he (Khan) has proof, then he should present it to the political affairs committee (PAC). The charges that he has levelled are serious and if he fails to produce any evidence to back them up, then he should be expelled from the party,” the party’s Chandni Chowk legislator Alka Lamba said.
Trying to quell rumors of a rift and warning leaders against creating a divide, Kejriwal had tweeted on Sunday, “Kumar is my younger brother. Some people are trying to create a rift between us. Such people are enemies of the party. They better mend their ways. No one can separate us.”
The AAP which has lost a series of elections in Delhi, Punjab and Goa has raised concerns over the use of possibly faulty voting machines.
The rumours of a rift come as other senior leaders from Punjab including member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann and Punjab unit chief Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi have criticised the party for blaming EVMs. After the Delhi civic body loss, Mann said the party had committed a “historic blunder” in with their electoral strategy in Punjab, where the party won 20 seats in the 117-member assembly.
In Delhi, the party managed to win only 48 out of the 272 seats spread across three corporations while the Bharatiya Janata Party won in over 180 seats.
PTI contributed to the story.