The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday alleged that the Centre was “snooping” on its parliamentarians after a leaked telephone conversation between MPs Bhagwant Mann and Dharamvir Gandhi indicated the Punjab unit’s discontent with the party’s central leadership.
In the conversation, Mr. Mann is heard telling Mr. Gandhi that he won because of his celebrity status and not because of AAP’s ‘broom’ symbol and that people working against them have been made the in-charge of the State unit.
“Whatever Mr. Mann has said is right. He has spoken his heart out,” Mr. Gandhi said.
“My phone does not have any facility to record,” he said.
“This is a result of dirty politics and is being done to stem the rise of AAP in Punjab. We are basically saying (during the chat) that if there is groupism in the party’s Punjab unit we should inform Delhi,” Mr. Mann told reporters.
The party said it had asked its MPs to write to the Speaker over their phones being “tapped”, saying the issues raised by Mr. Mann in the conversation were of no “consequence“.
“The content of the chat is of no consequence here. It’s petty issue. But the larger story is how the Centre is resorting to such tactics against MPs. There should be an inquiry over this,” AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said.
