FILE photo: AAP leader Yogendra Yadav
Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, founder members of the Aam Aadmi Party now isolated by Arvind Kejriwal's supporters, have rebutted the allegations of anti-party activities made against them by four senior leaders of the party.
In a letter addressed to party volunteers, acknowledged by all leaders as AAP's backbone, Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan have made a point-wise rebuttal of the allegations made by Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and three others in a public statement yesterday.
The two leaders have also questioned what they call 'unilateral decisions' made by Mr Kejriwal, who is party chief and chief minister of Delhi.
They say they hope to work for party unity and allege that the rift between Mr Kejriwal and them started after the Lok Sabha polls elections when the AAP chief suggested trying to form government in Delhi again with the support of the Congress which they opposed.
The letter was released even as another senior AAP leader Anjali Damania announced that she was quitting the party, citing allegations of "horse-trading" against Mr Kejriwal, who is on a 10 day break in Bengaluru.
Mr Sisodia and the others have accused Mr Bhushan and Mr Yadav of working to ensure the party's defeat in the recent Delhi Assembly polls - which AAP swept - and of attempting to malign the image of Arvind Kejriwal.
Today, a party MLA Kapil Mishra
began a signature campaign against Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.
Mr Mishra said most of AAPs 67 legislators in Delhi have already signed the petition. "I will give this petition, with the support of our MLAs to Arvind (Kejriwal) ji once he comes back. I have spoken to all our MLAs and they have agreed to sign the petition," said Mr Mishra, calling for "exemplary action" against those found to be involved in "anti-party activities."
Mr Mishra's campaign is seen as part of an effort by Arvind Kejriwal's supporters to lay the ground for more action against Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan ahead of the AAP's National Council meeting later this month. There is speculation that they could push for the removal of these leaders from the party's national executive.
Last week the national executive voted 11-8 to remove them from AAP's political affairs committee or PAC. Mr Kejriwal's supporters said Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan were attempting to unseat him as party chief.