New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder member Kumar Vishwas has hit out at party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, saying that the party does not belong to “a coterie of 2-3 persons” but to lakhs of its workers.

In open defiance of the party leadership, Vishwas, who was appearing in Rajat Sharma’s show “Aap Ki Adalat”, telecast on Saturday night on India TV, said: “AAP does not belong to a coterie of two or three persons, it belongs to lakhs of workers waiting outside.

“Two or three persons may be speaking out against me, the common party worker may be addressing any leader as ‘ji’, but he addresses me as ‘Kumar bhaiya’, and this is my strength in the party”.

On Jan.3 when the AAP named veteran leader Sanjay Singh, businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta as its debutants for the Rajya Sabha, Vishwas had expressed his disappointment over not being considered for the Upper House and claimed he was being “punished” for speaking the truth.

Poet-turned-politician Vishwas in the TV show listed out several instances in the recent past when he was sidelined by the party leadership.

“In Punjab, I had written poems against drug trafficking. I requested our leaders at least five to six times to allow me to campaign there, but I was not allowed to campaign in Punjab. I was told that the ‘fanatic movement’ in Punjab was unhappy with me.” In Delhi, AAP did not lose MCD polls because of me, there were deficiencies in the party’s policies and strategy, he added.

The dissident AAP leader said he had opposed Kejriwal when he had demanded that the Narendra Modi government must produce evidence of the surgical strike against Pakistan.

“I told him (Kejriwal) it was a question of our troops’ morale, and he (Kejriwal) replied, Modi should go first, then everything will be okay. This was his outlook....

The AAP leader said the question was not of (being denied ticket to) Rajya Sabha but for the last seven months, he had been reduced to “a mere pawn”.

“I did say in the past that I am not in politics for posts or power... but I did not say while joining politics that the fruits of my seven years of struggle will be handed over to ‘Ajgar chhap’ (python-like) Guptaji (Sushil Gupta).”

Indo-Asian News Service