AAP faces another trouble, latest may dent its anti-corruption plank
Shemin Joy, DH News Service, New Delhi, Mar 16 2018, 13:43 IST
Arvind Kejriwal
The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday waded into yet another rebellion within that has the potential to seriously dent its anti-corruption plank following Arvind Kejriwal's apology to Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia. The AAP Punjab unit is up in arms against Kejriwal's latest move to buy peace with Majithia, whom he had accused of being involved in drug trade. While Bhagwant Mann MP announced his resignation as party Punjab president on Twitter, state MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira have made it clear that they have not been consulted.
Khaira was joined by another senior leader Kanwar Sandhu in openly criticising central leadership and asserting that they would continue their struggle, suggesting that they would even take the tough decision to delink themselves with Kejriwal camp. Sandhu went on to take a dig at Kejriwal, "if you stand for truth, facing defamation cases are a way of life."
The strategy to wriggle out from around two dozen defamation suits comes close on the heels of AAP's latest troubles in Delhi where its government is on the back-foot over the "attack" on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by party MLAs in the presence of Kejriwal. The apology to Majithia may extend to other cases too, including the ones filed by Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari.
The AAP had risen in Indian polity through its high decibel campaign on corruption and taking on leaders from across the political hue by levelling serious allegations against them. With the latest move, the high moral ground AAP has taken so far has taken a hit.
The tempering down of rhetoric, however, would strengthen his detractors, including rebellious Kumar Vishwas and his supporters.
The party has been slipping into one after another controversy since its spectacular victory in Delhi in 2015.
While founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were expelled soon over the issue of candidate selection, a series of defeats in Delhi civic polls and Assembly elections had put a spanner on its expansion plans.
Vishwas' close aide Kapil Mishra, who was sacked as a minister, had levelled allegations that he had seen another Minister Satyendra Jain, who is facing CBI cases, handing over Rs one crore to Kejriwal at his residence had hit headlines.
Adding another woe, 20 of its MLAs were disqualified in an office of profit case, which its detractors described as the outcome of "power-hunger" in the party.
The immediate task for Kejriwal would be to convince its cadres why he chose to apologise and keep the Punjab unit with him. So far in the inner-party tussle, the Punjab unit had given support to Kejriwal and losing them would be a huge blow to him.
Khaira was joined by another senior leader Kanwar Sandhu in openly criticising central leadership and asserting that they would continue their struggle, suggesting that they would even take the tough decision to delink themselves with Kejriwal camp. Sandhu went on to take a dig at Kejriwal, "if you stand for truth, facing defamation cases are a way of life."
The strategy to wriggle out from around two dozen defamation suits comes close on the heels of AAP's latest troubles in Delhi where its government is on the back-foot over the "attack" on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by party MLAs in the presence of Kejriwal. The apology to Majithia may extend to other cases too, including the ones filed by Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari.
The AAP had risen in Indian polity through its high decibel campaign on corruption and taking on leaders from across the political hue by levelling serious allegations against them. With the latest move, the high moral ground AAP has taken so far has taken a hit.
The tempering down of rhetoric, however, would strengthen his detractors, including rebellious Kumar Vishwas and his supporters.
The party has been slipping into one after another controversy since its spectacular victory in Delhi in 2015.
While founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were expelled soon over the issue of candidate selection, a series of defeats in Delhi civic polls and Assembly elections had put a spanner on its expansion plans.
Vishwas' close aide Kapil Mishra, who was sacked as a minister, had levelled allegations that he had seen another Minister Satyendra Jain, who is facing CBI cases, handing over Rs one crore to Kejriwal at his residence had hit headlines.
Adding another woe, 20 of its MLAs were disqualified in an office of profit case, which its detractors described as the outcome of "power-hunger" in the party.
The immediate task for Kejriwal would be to convince its cadres why he chose to apologise and keep the Punjab unit with him. So far in the inner-party tussle, the Punjab unit had given support to Kejriwal and losing them would be a huge blow to him.