AAP suspends primary membership of sacked minister Sandeep Kumar over `sex CD` row

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Thursday said he was "very pained" by what Sandeep Kumar did which led to his sacking on morality grounds.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday suspended the primary membership of Sandeep Kumar, who was sacked over an alleged "sex video".

"The party is taking action. What Kumar has done is completely wrong and he has been suspended from primary membership of the party. Disciplinary committee has been handed over the matter and whatever its decision, the party will abide by it," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

"In a high-level meeting held on Saturday morning, the party suspended the primary membership of Sandeep Kumar," AAP`s Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey told IANS.

A further decision on terminating him from the party will be taken later, he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Thursday said he was "very pained" by what Kumar did which led to his sacking on morality grounds even as the dropped minister alleged a conspiracy against him because he was a Dalit.

The AAP national convenor had on Wednesday night sacked Sandeep Kumar as Social Welfare and Women and Child Development Minister.

On Thursday, Sandeep Kumar defended himself, saying he had resigned on his own and that he had been targeted because he was a "Dalit".

Yesterday, AAP's spokesperson Ashutosh stirred up controversy by saying that Kumar's "consensual act" was not wrong and his sacking from the Cabinet was aimed at "perception management".

Ashutosh, in a blog, said that leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi had "lived with their desires beyond social boundaries".

In his blog on NDTV, Ashutosh also said that the row over Kumar's "objectionable" video exposes the "hypocrisy of the society and hollowness of the media" and wondered why the seemingly obvious "consensual act" should create ripples in the media and politics.

Asked about party leader Ashutosh's tweets defending Kumar, Sisodia said, "These are his personal views but the party is clear. In AAP, any charges on character, corruption, and crime wouldn't be tolerated. If there are such charges against me, the same action will be taken as has been taken against Kumar," he said.

Sources said the decision to sack Kumar was taken before Kejriwal left for the Vatican City yesterday to attend the canonization of Mother Teresa.