An AAP MLA has alleged that women are being exploited in Punjab in return of promise of tickets
Highlights
- AAP legislator alleged that a "coterie" was damaging the party
- Women being exploited in Punjab in return of promise of tickets, he said
- He had earlier objected sacking of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav
As Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) deals with an embarrassing sex scandal that has led to the sacking of minister Sandeep Kumar, a lawmaker has written to Arvind Kejriwal alleging that there are other leaders in the party that are exploiting women.
"I saw disturbing reports about women being exploited in Punjab in return of or promise of tickets. I am meeting people in Chandigarh to check the position on ground ...Dilip Pandey is doing same in Delhi," Devinder Sehrawat, an AAP lawmaker in Delhi, has alleged in his letter to the Chief Minister.
"If someone exploits women for tickets then nothing can be more wrong. If the leadership is not doing anything then somewhere they are also involved. It is not acceptable that four people will rule the country and the party," Mr Sehrawat wrote, adding, "I appeal to Kejriwal to clear the stand of the party. If someone does this kind of activity then he should be removed from the party."
Mr Sehrawat also criticised party leader Ashutosh for his views on the sex tape allegedly featuring Sandeep Kumar, who has since been sacked, suspended and also arrested on rape charges.
In a blog on ndtv.com, Ashutosh had referenced Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru while speaking about examples in history where leaders had lived with "desires beyond social boundaries" and questioned why sex between two consenting adults should be debated.
These views are not "as per the acceptable value systems," said Mr Sehrawat, urging Mr Kejriwal to sack the journalist-turned-AAP politician.
A "coterie", alleged the lawmaker, was damaging the party. According to the Press Trust of India, he named Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Dilip Pandey.
The lawmaker, who had earlier spoken out against the manner in which founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were expelled from the party last year, said the situation "is getting indefensible and disgraceful and action needs to be taken to remove rotten elements".
Sandeep Kumar, who was women and child development minister in the AAP government, was arrested on Saturday evening after the woman in the sex tape went to the police claiming she had been given sedatives and raped.