Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal today broke his silence amidst a raging conflict within his party ranks to say that he is ‘deeply hurt and pained’.
“I am deeply hurt and pained by what is going on in the party. This is betrayal of trust that Delhi posed in us,†he tweeted. Kejriwal added that he will not be drawn into this ‘ugly battle’ and that he would rather focus on governance in Delhi.
The rift which has divided the party into two camps — one comprising of a set of senior leaders who support Kejriwal and the other involving Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav — comes less than 3 weeks after AAP registered a resounding victory in Delhi winning 67 out of the state’s 70 seats.
Sharp differences have come to the fore within the party with allegations that senior AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were trying to “remove†Kejriwal from the post of party convener.
A letter written by Dilip Pandey, secretary of the Delhi unit of the party, to the Disciplinary Committee alleged that Shanti Bhushan, father of Prashant Bhushan, had helped Yadav conspire to take over as National Convener over a period of time, and that the three leaders had “facilitated the formation of an anti party forum called AVAM†and made all kinds of “allegations without substantive proof during the candidate selection processâ€.
Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh had also held a press conference on Monday in which he alleged that “there were constant attempts to sabotage the AAP and its national convener Arvind Kejriwalâ€. Sources within the party say that both Bhushan and Yadav may be excluded from the Political Affairs Committee, the party’s highest political decision-making body.
Yadav had earlier posted on social media, “I have been listening to and reading reports about Prashant Bhushan and myself. New stories are being woven, new conspiracies are being found. When I read these, I laugh and I feel sad. I laugh because these stories are foundationless and baseless. Those weaving the story must have little time, and lots of imagination. I feel sad seeing the intent behind these reports. After the people of Delhi gave us such a big win, it is time for big work, with all our mind. I can only appeal that we don’t allow our petty actions to make our hope small. I only pray for good sense.â€
All eyes are now on a National Executive meeting of the party scheduled for March 4, where the events of the past two days would be discussed.
