Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia. (Express Photo)
Staring at the possibility of a split in the Punjab unit, sources in the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday said the party’s central leadership had expected a backlash over Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s apology letter to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia — but the intensity of it has “come as a surprise”. However, leaders close to the Chief Minister added that he or Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will not be travelling to Punjab immediately — despite demands from a section of the Punjab unit. The leader said that the central leadership had been “expecting a rebellion” by a section of the Punjab unit for quite some time. “But we were not expecting this big a reaction,” the leader said.
At the same time, sources expressed confidence that the rebel faction was not in a position to get the backing of at least 14 MLAs needed to split while avoiding disqualification under the anti-defection law. The AAP has 20 MLAs in Punjab and under the anti-defection law, at least two-third members of a legislature party should be together in order to form a new party or merge with another one without getting disqualified. “They don’t have the numbers and this was taken into account before writing the apology letter,” sources said.