The nomination of businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta has not only come as a shock to several party insiders but it has not gone down well with former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders either.
Former AAP members Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Anjali Damania and Mayank Gandhi lashed out at Arvind Kejriwal for picking Sushil Gupta, who recently resigned from the Congress and has “no work to prove his candidature”.
Mr. Yadav took to Twitter to slam Mr. Kejriwal and said he was “ashamed and numb” by the decision.
“I used to say, whatever his other faults @ArvindKejriwal cannot be bought. Defended him against Kapil Mishra’s allegations. Now I don’t know what to say. Speechless, ashamed and numb,” he tweeted.
‘AAP is corrupt’
Mr. Gandhi also expressed his displeasure at the AAP’s choice and replied to Mr. Yadav’s tweet saying, “I told you about some of the incidents that indicated this. But, in our naivete, we did not believe that AK could go to such extent”.
He said that it worth thinking of the reasons for Mr. Sushil Gupta’s selection.
Mr. Gandhi said, “Now there is no difference between the AAP and the BSP. This leadership isn’t worth supporting. I can say without any doubts that the AAP has become corrupt. After communal and caste vote bank politics, we have crossed the last bastion — corruption.”
Mr. Bhushan was also scathing in his criticism against the party for giving Rajya Sabha tickets to “people who have not distinguished themselves in public service and have no expertise on anything to qualify for the Rajya Sabha”.
Ms. Damania on the other hand was more upset than angry. “Even after quitting, I did not speak against AAP because I had a corner for AAP in my heart. I had hopes that it would do a course correction. But now I am convinced that AAP ideology is over. From now on, it is like any other party for me,” she said.
