File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
A rebel member of Arvind Kejriwal's party was left without any electricity in his office seconds before he began a press conference to share his criticism of the Chief Minister.
Pankaj Pushkar, one of the 67 legislators from Mr Kejriwal's party in the 70-seat Delhi Assembly, alleged that the power cut for his office was orchestrated to impede his interaction with reporters.
He did not, however, hold back on a litany of complaints. "The ethos of the party is in serious danger", he said, adding that he was forced to voice his concerns publicly after being refused an appointment by Mr Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, for over a month.
That could be because Mr Pushkar is part of a rebel faction within the Aam Aadmi Party headed by leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, who have accused Mr Kejriwal of expunging dissent - including theirs - from all party fora.
In evidence of his claim that the Aam Aadmi Party has deviated wildly from its commitment of providing down-to-earth, frills-free and transparent governance, Mr Pushkar referenced a television ad for the Delhi government that has aired to much criticism, not least because of its sexist depiction of its housewife protagonist.
The ad, which played in heavy rotation, was also slammed for sneaking around a Supreme Court ban on politicians featuring in publicly-funded promotions for the government -the ad does not show Mr Kejriwal but mentions him with uninhibited frequency.
Today, the opposition said that Mr kejriwal's government has budgeted a massive 500 cores rupees for government advertising and promotion over the next year, as compared to Rs 23 crores last year.
As evidence of his claim that the AAP now functions exactly like the traditional parties it has criticised, Mr Pushkar cited an electricity bill of nearly a lakh for the Chief Minister's residence for the last two months. AAP has said the bulk of the costs were incurred for sections that are used by Mr Kejriwal as an at-home office space.