‘Kejriwal bid to quit as AAP convener opposed by party’

March 01, 2015 12:00 am | Updated April 02, 2016 07:07 am IST - New Delhi:

New Delhi: AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal at the CII's National Council Meeting in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Photo by Vijay Verma (PTI2_17_2014_000174B)

New Delhi: AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal at the CII's National Council Meeting in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Photo by Vijay Verma (PTI2_17_2014_000174B)

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had tendered his resignation as party’s national convener in the National Executive (NE) meeting held on Thursday, party sources said, a move which was vehemently opposed by members.

Sources said Mr. Kejriwal was upset after a section of leaders raised the issue of him playing the dual role of the Delhi Chief Minister and the party convener. Mr. Kejriwal is believed to have demanded more freedom to run the party.

“In the NE meeting, Mr. Kejriwal had offered to resign, having become the chief minister. He had sent a note and also conveyed his decision over the phone. The move was vehemently opposed by everyone, including Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. On the same night, NE members met Mr. Kejriwal and conveyed that they had rejected his proposal of quitting.

“A suggestion also came up to rejig the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) but a final decision will be taken by Mr. Kejriwal,” said a senior party leader. The rejig is likely to take place after the Budget session of Delhi Legislative Assembly, which is slated to take place next week.

There have been reports of friction between Mr. Kejriwal and senior party leader Yogendra Yadav. Sources said differences have cropped up between senior party leaders especially over the candidate selection during the Delhi assembly election. Owing to this, Mr. Bhushan and Mr. Yadav were not attending the PAC.

The Delhi unit of AAP was reportedly unhappy about the opposition over the candidate selection process as it claimed that the party already had a strong filter to weed out candidates who could not meet the party standards.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yadav said no decision was taken to rejig the PAC. “As I said, there was a NE meeting, no such decision has taken place and about speculation, obviously I cannot respond. The AAP is not into such petty political games that get played in other political parties.”

Following the NE meet, a three-member committee was constituted comprising party’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta, Gopal Rai and Anand Kumar to talk to Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Yadav and Bhushan and sort the issues.

Concerns were also raised about “leakage” by some leaders to the media. – PTI

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