An AAP lawmaker blamed Arvind Kejriwal a dictator and promoter of "coterie culture".
With hardly eight months to go for assembly polls in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party appears all set for a vertical split in its ranks as two of its prominent MPs out of a total four - all from Punjab - are likely to resign their Lok Sabha seats and join a new political outfit to be floated, news agency IANS reported.
Apart from MPs Harinder Singh Khalsa and Dharamvira Gandhi, senior party leaders -- and party star performers in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls -- like Harvinder Singh Phoolka, Daljeet Singh and Jasraj Longia -- popularly known as Jassi Jasraj -- were also tipped to join the yet-unborn political grouping in Punjab, an AAP source was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
Calling AAP Convenor -- and Delhi Chief Minister -- Arvind Kejriwal a dictator and promoter of "coterie culture", Mr Khalsa told IANS in an interview: "I don't feel any discomfort if I have to resign my Lok Sabha seat to join the volunteers' outfit in the offing."
Mr Khalsa termed the present-day party as "fraud and revolution of scamsters and the power hungry".
Echoing similar sentiments, party MP Dharamvira Gandhi told IANS separately: "If AAP continues to compromise on its founding principles of Swaraj and transparency, I will discontinue my association with it."
"AAP's Delhi Durbar has made Punjab a colony of Delhi. They have not allowed the volunteers and the local leadership to grow," Mr Gandhi said asserting that "if we Punjabis are not given a say in deciding our political fate, I will not hesitate to take a drastic step".
Senior AAP leaders, including Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, left the outfit last year after levelling similar accusations against Mr Kejriwal.
The development assumes significance as AAP is carrying out a high octane campaign in Punjab in the run up to assembly polls due early next year. The stakes for the party are high as the state gave it all the four MPs it has in Lok Sabha along with more than 25 percent of vote share.