AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny has denied any rift with party after being left out of Delhi cabinet
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seems to have averted a potentially embarrassing crisis within, after one of its newly-elected legislators reportedly became upset on Tuesday at being left out of the party's list of ministers for the Delhi cabinet.
This morning, AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny denied any rift within, and so did Mr Kejriwal. Mr Binny's retreat came after a late night meeting at his house when two AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh reportedly pacified him.
"Who says I am angry with the party? I left early because I had to go for a reception. There are many other responsibilities. They might have chosen me for some other responsibility. I don't want to be a minister. I am here to serve people," Mr Binny told reporters today.
Mr Binny is seen as close to top AAP leader Manish Sisodia and was widely expected to be made a cabinet minister after a big win in Laxmi Nagar. But, sources said, Mr Kejriwal, who will be Delhi's next chief minister, ruled him out of the list.
A former Congressman, he quit that party in 2011, to join the massive anti-graft movement engineered by Mr Kejriwal and his former mentor Anna Hazare. He rejected suggestions that his Congress past had worked against him.
Party sources said Mr Binny was being fielded as parliamentary secretary to the Chief Minister. This is equivalent to a cabinet berth. However, AAP sources admit that Mr Binny may not have understood the responsibility that has been chalked out for him.
AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said picking ministers for the Delhi cabinet is "completely the prerogative of the Chief Minister."
Mr Binny is one of the few AAP legislators who has won an election before, twice as an independent MLA. This year, he was one of AAP's giant-slayers, defeating Delhi Health Minister A K Walia in Laxmi Nagar by about 8,000 votes.