New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken took on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday over its ongoing internal rift and alleged that it has turned into a 'party of fights'.
Speaking to ANI, Maken said, “People voted for AAP with expectations but AAP is turning into party of fights now.”
In further escalation of infighting, AAP dissident leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav today mounted a no-holds-barred attack on party chief Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of stifling internal democracy and adopting unfair means to capture power.
Addressing a press conference here, the two leaders alleged that any issue raised by them was being projected as questioning Kejriwal's leadership and attempts to remove him from the post of AAP's national convenor.
Bhushan even claimed that Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal had suggested that he will form a regional party with all party MLAs saying "he cannot work with us".
The attack on Kejriwal by the two founding members of the party came a day before the crucial meeting of AAP's National Council which is likely to deliberate on the fate of Bhushan and Yadav and other major issues.
The two leaders further said they will quit all "executive posts" if the five demands they had placed before the leadership which include bringing the party under the ambit of the RTI Act, ordering probe by AAP's internal Lokpal into allegations of wrong doing and giving state units more autonomy, are met.
"We had sent a note to the party placing our demands which is now being shown as our resignation letter. Whereas it was a conditional letter to resign. We had said if our five demands are met, we will resign from all party posts," Yadav said.
The two leaders added that they were repeatedly being pressurised to resign during the reconciliation talks and clarified that they never raised the issue of the post of party convenorship during the talks.
The AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is believed to be adamant about ensuring the removal of Bhushan and Yadav from the party's national executive, has, however, maintained silence over the issue so far.
The meeting of the AAP's 320-member national council would be held on Saturday during which a decision is likely to be taken on removing Bhushan and Yadav from the party's national executive.
According to reports, the 320-member national council members are basically India Against Corruption movement volunteers from various states who supported the idea of the formation of AAP. They elect the national executive which chooses PAC members.
(With Agency inputs)
