The Opposition BJP and Congress on Wednesday attempted to corner the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the departure of party leaders Ashish Khetan and Ashutosh within a span of one week alleging that the developments underlined a decline in the charisma of the AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister.
Bleak future
Hitting out at Mr. Kejriwal after Mr. Khetan’s decision to quit the AAP, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said the party may “vanish” before the next Delhi Legislative Assembly polls.
“Arvind Kejriwal is a one-time wonder whose charisma is fast losing its sheen among the people of Delhi and the leaders of his own party. It now appears that by the next Vidhan Sabha elections in 2020, the Aam Aadmi Party will vanish from the political horizon,” Mr. Tiwari said in a statement.
‘Fast disintegrating’
Earlier in the day, Mr. Khetan quit the AAP within a week of exit of one of the party’s other key faces, Mr. Ashutosh, plunging the party into more trouble in terms of public image.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the development indicated that the AAP “is fast disintegrating”.
“Only yesterday, the Chief Minister, on the basis of some news reports, was making claims of politically decimating BJP, but the way his own party leaders are deserting him, it seems that very soon the AAP will be decimated,” he said.
‘Internal problem’
Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee took to Twitter to state, “Within 6 years of forming the party, most of the old guards, founding members of AAP have left. Obviously something is terribly wrong within the party [sic].”