Punjab’s main Opposition, the Aam Aadmi Party, on Wednesday postponed a legislators’ meeting to August 24 to frame a strategy for the upcoming Assembly session to allow the party’s rebel faction to participate.
The meeting was scheduled to be held on Wednesday. It was deferred after a group of the AAP’s dissident MLAs, led by ousted Leader of the Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira, alleged that the meeting was deliberately called on Wednesday to coincide with their volunteers’ convention at Kotkapura.
“We have postponed the meeting of our party legislators to August 24 (and it will be held) at 11 a.m. at the Vidhan Sabha,” Dirba MLA and LoP in the Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema said.
“Kanwar Sandhu on Tuesday said that they (the rebel faction) wanted to attend the meeting but it was deliberately scheduled for Wednesday so that they could not attend it. Therefore, we postponed it and they are now welcome to (join) the meeting,” he said.
Invitations for the meeting will be sent again to all the MLAs, he added.
When asked how the party will put up a united face in the Assembly in the wake of the ongoing infighting, Mr. Cheema ruled out the possibility of any embarrassing situation.
“They (rebel group) may do whatever they want to do outside. But in the Vidhan Sabha they will have to go by the party line,” he asserted.
The three-day Assembly session will be held from August 24 to 28.
The AAP plunged into crisis after Mr. Khaira was sacked as the Leader of the Opposition in July. Since then, the crisis has only deepened with the dissidents forming an ad hoc Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and naming Mr. Khaira as the interim chief of the party’s State unit.
