Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan addressing a press conference after being dropped from key panel
The Aam Aadmi Party's founder members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who were dropped from a key party panel today, accused chief Arvind Kejriwal and his loyalists of beating their supporters and using bouncers to drag them out.
At a meeting today, the two leaders were voted out of the party's 21-member National Executive in a move they called "murder of democracy." They did not rule out taking legal action.
"I feel ashamed and saddened by what happened in a party that promised a different kind of politics," Mr Yadav said at a press conference.
Mr Bhushan said, "What he (Arvind Kejriwal) has displayed today is that he is willing to use his dictatorial powers to ruthlessly stifle dissent and ruthlessly stop any discussion or opposition to what he wants. Unfortunately, I tried and failed in my efforts to curb Arvind Kejriwal's dictatorial tendencies and they have taken on a more ugly form."
Both leaders said the voting at the national council meeting was scripted.
"As soon as we reached there, I was greeted with 'Murdabad' slogans. There were unrecognisable faces and non-members in the meeting and members were not allowed inside. Our supporters were thrashed. When I asked Arvind to get them to stop, he sat like a statue," Mr Yadav said.
He alleged that AAP's internal Lokpal Admiral Ramdas was deliberately asked to stay out of the meeting to avoid confrontation. "It is a tragedy for a party born out of the movement for a Lokpal," he said.
AAP rejected the allegations and said only eight members raised their hands in favour of Mr Bhushan and Mr Yadav in the meeting.
The two leaders, who say they are being punished for demanding inner party democracy and accountability, were earlier sacked from the party's top decision making panel, the political affairs committee.