No plans to reinstate those who left: AAP

Senior leaders react to proposal by founder-member Kumar Vishwas

A day after Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) founder-member Kumar Vishwas suggested forming a second iteration of the party that would see former members join, senior leaders said on Monday that no such plan is being discussed.

Responding to Mr. Kumar’s idea of inviting those who had left the party, AAP’s spokesperson Sanjay Singh said: “No such invitations have been extended from the party to the leaders who left us. Neither are there any plans of bringing them back. It seems like an idea floated by Mr. Kumar and has no official backing.”

‘Don’t want new party’

Mr. Kumar had called for an ‘AAP 2.0’ to be formed during a meeting with volunteers and workers at the party office at Rouse Avenue on Sunday.

During the meeting, Mr, Kumar had accused the AAP of moving away from the core values for which the people of Delhi had voted. “I never said that I wanted to create a new party. I just want all of us to up our game for the benefit of the people,” he said.

AAP leaders said that though no senior leader participated in the meet organised by Mr. Kumar, they were aware of such a meeting.

Refuting rumours of a rift in the party, a senior AAP leader said: “We have always believed in becoming a platform where people are free to voice their opinions. The absence and presence of any leader in a meeting does not mean that there is something wrong.”

Mr. Kumar has openly criticised the AAP on several occasions, and the rift grew wider after Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan was reinstated in the party. Mr. Khan had accused Mr. Kumar of planning a coup against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and called him a “BJP agent”.