JALANDHAR: Twelve office-bearers of AAP units in Australia have a written to the party’s MLAs, saying that they would withdraw support to those who would side with the Delhi leadership’s “undemocratic decision and caste-based politics”.
This is the second such letter to the MLAs. The letter has also been sent to party supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab in-charge
Manish Sisodia.
The office-bearers, including Australia outreach convener Jagdeep Singh, New South Wales convener Balram Singh and media coordinator Bhavjit Singh, asked all the MLAs to attend the convention even though party leaders in Delhi had asked them to boycott it.
NRIs played a very significant role for AAP in Punjab; it is estimated that the party got lion’s share as compared to the Congress and the SAD-BJP in receiving funds from Punjabi NRIs. Several also campaigned here and urged their families and friends to vote for AAP. However, several of them are now backing Sukhpal Singh Khaira and turning the heat on the party’s central leadership.
The Australia office-bearers have said in the letters that Khaira had been removed undemocratically and a few MLAs, instead of opposing the move, were backing it. “The party refrained from communal politics in the past, but has now turned to caste politics to justify the appointment of the leader of opposition. We criticise the MLAs who are supporting this move,” the letter said.
They added that those following undemocratic, dictatorial and communal politics would not be supported in Australia. “We are very sad and pained with the anti-Punjab stance taken by few AAP MLAs,” the letter adds.
In a separate letter to Sisodia, the Australia unit said if the party was so concerned over its image in front of the
Dalit communit, it should have sent Dalit members in Rajya Sabha and have appointed members from the Dalit community at key positions in Delhi.
Ghuggi backs Khaira
Former AAP Punjab convenor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, who was removed unceremoniously after the assembly elections in 2017, also extended support to the August 2 convention in
Bathinda. In a video, he appealed to all party supporters to reach there. He also took a dig at the “undemocratic” style of working of the party’s Delhi leadership.
