Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, removed from the party’s Political Affairs Committee, on Wednesday refuted the charges of indulging in anti-party activities and conspiring to remove Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from the post of AAP convener.
Breaking their silence over a series of allegations levelled against them during the past few days, the two leaders released a joint letter to the party volunteers while assuring them that they would make all possible efforts to save the party “without compromising on principles”. However, they raised questions about some of Mr. Kejriwal’s decisions after last year’s Lok Sabha election results.
The letter, released simultaneously to the media, said the differences between the two leaders and Mr. Kejriwal had started when the latter insisted on exploring the scope for formation of government in Delhi with the support of Congress after the Lok Sabha polls. “We raised our voice against the move. But these efforts continued till November when the [Delhi] Assembly was dissolved.”
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The duo asked the volunteers if it was not right on their part to oppose the move of Mr. Kejriwal and his supporters, adding that AAP would not have been able to win people’s support if it had formed the government with Congress. “We insisted that any alliance with the Congress would send across a very wrong signal, as Congress had been rejected in the Lok Sabha elections.”
Meanwhile, another letter addressed to Mr. Kejriwal and purportedly signed by 60 AAP MLAs has emerged with the demand to remove both Mr. Yadav and Mr. Bhushan to “set an example before others”.
While the letter accuses the two leaders of conspiring to tarnish Mr. Kejriwal’s image, Mr. Yadav said many MLAs were coerced into signing the letter.
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Both Mr. Yadav and Mr. Bhushan offered clarifications on six major allegations levelled against them, saying their silence on the issues raised by Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Gopal Rai and Pankaj Gupta would give an impression that there was some truth in their charges. The letter dealt with the issues of selection of candidates for Assembly elections, reconstitution of PAC, contesting polls in other States and formation of Aam Aadmi Voluntary Action Manch.
The letter rejected the charge that Mr. Yadav had planted stories in media which damaged the party. Referring to a breakfast meeting with the journalists, the letter denied that the information on the National Executive being ignored while deciding on Haryana elections was leaked to the media. “Why are the names of editors, who were supposedly fed with information against the party, not being made public?” it asked.
The letter also clarified that the views expressed therein did not include those of Shanti Bhushan, as the two leaders had already publicly expressed their differences with him and it would be better to get his views from him only.
The duo wished Mr. Kejriwal a speedy recovery and expressed the hope that he would evolve a solution to all the issues after coming back to the Capital in such a manner that the party’s “unity and spirit” were protected. “We will not allow our ego to come between and will continue to work for the party with discipline.”