New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday expelled dissident party leaders Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and two others for indulging in 'anti-party activities'.
The decision was conveyed by the party late on Monday who added that apart from Bhushan and Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha too had been expelled from AAP.
National Disciplinary Committee has expelled Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Prof Anand and Ajit Jha from AAP. PR: https://t.co/6BjxHPmiIf
— Aam Aadmi Party (@AamAadmiParty) April 20, 2015
The press release read :
"The National Disciplinary Committee met on April 20, 2015 at 6 pm at 514, VP House to decide on the complaints against Mr. Yogendra Yadav, Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Mr. Anand Kumar and Mr. Ajit Jha. On the request of the respondents, the Committee had earlier extended the deadline for submitting their explanations by one day, that is, to 3 pm on April 20, 2015. However the committee received the responses of Mr. Yadav, Mr. Bhushan and Kumar while Mr. Jha failed to furnish his response within the prescribed time. The Committee carefully considered responses furnished by Mr. Yogendra Yadav, Mr. Prashant Bhushan and Mr. Anand Kumar and found them unsatisfactory. The Committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Mr. Yogendra Yadav, Mr. Prashant Bhushan and Mr. Anand Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities. They have violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of Party’s Constitution. The Committee is of the view that Mr. Ajit Jha failed to furnish his response in stipulated time despite sufficient time to his disposal. After examining the evidence put before it, the Committee is of unanimous view that Mr. Ajit Jha is also guilty of gross indiscipline and indulging into anti-party activities. The Committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party."
The party had made up its mind well in advance to take action against the leaders for organising 'Swaraj Samwad' - an open dialogue - against the wishes of other AAP leaders.
The party had also issued a show-cause notice to them to clarify their stance.
The dissident leaders replied separately to the notice today describing it as a "pre-scripted drama where the outcome is already decided and well-known".
Bhushan accused AAP general secretary Pankaj Gupta of accepting Rs two crore donation from shell companies and Ashish Khetan of writing a planted story in a national magazine defending a telecom company, allegedly involved in 2G spectrum scam.
Yadav, in a lengthy reply, cited various instances - like selection of candidates for the 2015 assembly elections in Delhi - where the party violated its constitution.
Yadav and Bhushan had been ousted from the party's national executive on March 28 for alleged "anti-party" activities and had hinted at forming a political party.
They named Anand Kumar as the national convener of the steering committee of 'Swaraj Abhiyan' -- a non-political movement to establish 'swaraj' (self-rule) in the country's cultural, political, economic and social fields.
(With Agency Inputs)
