Upset over being heckled at the National Council meeting for wanting to move a resolution over tendering an apology for law Minister Somnath Bharti’s vigilantism, former diplomat and Aam Aadmi Party founder-member Madhu Bhaduri has quit the party.
Asked if she was with the party, Ms. Bhaduri told The Hindu on Sunday that she had nothing to do with a party “that humiliates women.” Sources in the party, however, said they had not received any formal communication from her on this. A senior leader spoke to her on Sunday but Ms. Bhaduri said she wanted to distance herself from the AAP.
Ms. Bhaduri, the former Ambassador to Portugal, said she strongly felt that the party should apologise for the inconvenience caused to some African women in Khirki Extension, who were suspected of being involved in flesh trade and drug trafficking, and wanted to move a resolution to this effect in the National Council. She was upset that a party which professes humanism did not back her resolution.
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AAP sources said Ms. Bhaduri was a “valued member of the party” and was given full opportunity to raise the issue in the council meeting. But when she tried to move a resolution on behalf of the party, some members sitting in the front row opposed her loudly, upsetting her.
A resolution has to be approved by the National Executive Committee before being moved for ratification by the National Council, the sources said. To this, Ms. Bhaduri said that she had indicated that she wanted to move a resolution and “nobody told me that it should first be taken to the National Executive Committee.”
AAP spokesman Ashutosh said Ms. Bhaduri had raised some questions. “But there is a difference in her opinion and the party’s. She had been given a chance in the National Council meet. The party addressed her questions.”
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Chief spokesman Yogendra Yadav said: “She was invited on the dais during the National Council meeting to express her views. She still does not subscribe to the party’s view.''