Trouble for Arvind Kejriwal; sacked AAP Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur's supporters to float new party?

Chandigarh: It seems day-by-day Punjab Assembly Elections are getting tougher for Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)!

Days after Aam Aadmi Party removed Sucha Singh Chhotepur as the party's Punjab convenor, speculations are rife that his supporters may float a new party to fight elections in Punjab.

Reportedly, the dissidents are contemplating to launch a new political outfit to be named as 'AAP Punjab', if Arvind Kejriwal and other top leaders of the party leadership do not pay attention to their demands.

Noteworthy, the party's six zone in-charges are backing Chhotepur, according to a report in TOI.

According to experts, if Chhotepur's supporters float a new party with him, certainly it will harm AAP's prospects in the poll-bound state

Chhotepur's removal

Aam Aadmi Party on last Friday removed Sucha Singh Chhotepur as the party's Punjab convenor over allegations that he took bribe from a ticket aspirant.

AAP's highest decision making body, the Political Affairs Committee, took the decision.

Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann told reporters that Chhotepur will be given a chance to explain his stand to the party leadership and that his case has been referred to a two-member committee comprising Jasbir Singh and the AAP Punjab joint in-charge Jarnail Singh.

"The allegation is that Chhotepur sought Rs 60 lakh from from a ticket aspirant and the deal was fixed at Rs 30 lakh. The person has already paid him Rs 4 lakh, of which Chotepur returned Rs 3 lakh. He kept the rest of the amount with him," Mann said.

Meanwhile, Chhotepur, in a conference at Chandigarh, said, "I am saddened that the party, instead of defending me has levelled allegations against me." 

On the purported sting operation against him, Chhotepur said it was a "conspiracy" hatched by "my own friends within the party." 

21 AAP leaders from Punjab had shot off a letter to party's national convenor Kejriwal asking him to immediately sack Chotepur from the party after a controversy erupted over a video clip allegedly showing him taking money.