Dissident Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Prashant Bhushan on Monday alleged that anyone expressing views contrary to the actions of the party leadership was being hounded and victimised.
"Today everybody who expresses any view which is contrary to the actions of the party leadership and specifically the actions of the convenor, secretary, etc. is being hounded and victimised," he added.
"The way things have been done by those people who are in control of the party machinery today, is for all to see," he added.
Bhushan, who was last week served a show-cause notice by the AAP's national disciplinary committee, once again compared the situation in the party to a Stalinist purge.
"As I said, the situation that has been created is somewhat of the reminiscent of the Stalinist purge which took place in rush hour...though the party's Constitution says very clearly that every member shall be free to express his opinion which is contrary to the opinion of the party and that shall not be treated to be misconduct or in disciplinary, etc.," he said.
Earlier in the day, Bhushan delivered a stinging reply to the show-cause notice, saying he wasn't aware as to who constituted the national disciplinary committee and when and how it was done.
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"It's remarkable and ironic that you (Pankaj Gupta) along with Ashish Khetan and Dinesh Vaghela have sent this notice to us, styling yourself as the "National Disciplinary Committee". I am not aware as to who has constituted this as the National Disciplinary Committee and when and how this was done," Bhushan said in reply to AAP Secretary Pankaj Gupta.
Besides Bhushan, the AAP had also served show-cause notices to senior members Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha.
Yadav had also slammed the show-cause notice as a joke and a travesty of justice, saying the party had leaked its contents to the media before he received it.
Yadav and Bhushan had last week held a 'Swaraj Samwad ' meeting in the national capital.
During the meeting, the duo, along with Shanti Bhushan, attacked the AAP leadership for not fulfilling promises which it made earlier as a new political outfit.