The Aam Aadmi Party will take a final call on disciplinary action against its rebel MLA Vinod Kumar Binny in the next two days.
Party leader Sanjay Singh on Friday told The Hindu that the party will take action against Mr. Binny in a couple of days. “The party has received Mr. Binny’s reply to the show-cause notice. The disciplinary action committee of the party will take the call in next two days,” said Mr. Singh. Asked why so much of delay in deciding Mr. Binny’s fate in the party, he replied in a jocular tone: “What is the hurry. Let his BJP connections come out in the open”.
Mr. Binny had accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP Government of “cheating” people of Delhi by “going back” on election promises after which the party decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him and issued a show-cause notice for “tarnishing” its image by his “baseless” allegations. Mr. Binny submitted his reply to the party.
When approached for his reaction, Mr. Binny said he did not commit any crime by raising issues he thought were important for the public to know about the functioning of the party. “Let them take action against me. I have not committed any wrong by raising the issues the party also highlights. I am not joining the BJP at all. They do not have a case against me. All they can do is to make allegations,” replied Mr. Binny when asked about his alleged proximity to the BJP.
“ I will go ahead with my strike at Jantar Mantar from January 27 asking the AAP to fulfil their promises to the public,” he added.
The political affairs committee of the party formed a disciplinary action committee (DAC) under AAP National Secretary Pankaj Gupta, which will decide what action has to be taken against the Lakshmi Nagar MLA. Besides Mr. Gupta, the committee comprises party leaders Gopal Rai, Ilias Azmi, Yogendra Yadav and Ashish Talwar.
Mr. Binny, who was allegedly sulking after reportedly being denied a ticket from East Delhi, rebelled and came out in public against his party, calling the Chief Minister “ambitious” and a “dictator”. He had clarified that he would not resign. He will loose his MLA status if he does that but he gets to retain the seat if he is expelled or suspended.
