 "Feuding AAP factions likely to clash at national council")
Both Arvind Kejriwal’s camp and its leading detractors, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, also founding members, have openly hit out at each other. Reconciliation talks between the sides broke down on Thursday. Yadav and Bhushan went public with an open letter alleging that lies about them resigning from the National Executive (NE) were being spread by the Kejriwal camp. Yadav states in his letter that Kejriwal wants the duo to resign on the pretext that their demands, that AAP abide by its commitments on adopting a right to information, decentralised decision making and intra-party democracy, would be met.
The Kejriwal camp alleged the talks had broken down as the duo insisted on his resignation as the party’s national convenor, a charge both vigorously denied.
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Kejriwal has not met Bhushan, saying he was busy with the vote-on-account in the city’s legislative assembly. The party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) met on Thursday. On Wednesday night, sources say, Kejriwal made it clear that he wanted Yadav and Bhushan to be removed from the party's NE. A disgusted Bhushan said he would be addressing a press conference on Friday.
He and Yadav, it may be recalled, had been ousted from the PAC recently, for alleged “anti-party” activities, a view also contested by many within the party.
The ugly mudslinging that engulfed the party over recent weeks, with both camps trading charges, had been temporarily halted as both sides attempted a dialogue. Since the first marathon meeting on March 16, the two sides have been holding discussions mainly through representatives -- professors Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha for Yadav-Bhushan, and Sanjay Singh, Ashish Khetan and Ashutosh on behalf of Kejriwal.
Although both sides have engaged in several hours of talk on a daily basis, with even Yadav being persuaded to meet Sanjay Singh directly on one occasion, there seems to be little headway.
Yadav–Bhushan have demanded the AAP adopt a right to information and make its internal workings transparent. The Kejriwal group has refused to make public the proceedings of the PAC, NE, etc. It was on the insistence of the duo that minutes of sorts of the PAC meeting on March 17 was put up on the AAP website.
While the duo are insisting on making the party organisation more horizontal, replacing a vertical and top-down approach, the AAP chief is said to be in no mood for such a shift. Decisions on whether to fight elections in states, Kejriwal and his aides feel, should be taken by AAP leaders in Delhi and not left to state units.
The fault lines between the two sides had become apparent over the differing views on national expansion. Yadav believes the future for the fledgling party lies in contesting elections to state, municipal and panchayat levels. Kejriwal is only willing to commit at present to fighting the Punjab Assembly polls, scheduled in 2017. Of Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha members, four are from the AAP.
Differences have also cropped up between the two sides over constituting a thorough investigation by the party Lok Pal into allegations of illegal funding, taped telephone conversations and allegations of unethical ticket distribution. The Kejriwal camp has agreed to these but declined to have scrutinised the alleged sting operation revealing Kejriwal trying to make Congress MLAs break away from the party last year, to join him.
An attempt was even made by the party’s Lok Pal, retired Admiral L Ramdas, to push for reconciliation. It has reportedly failed, with both sides digging in their heels.
Bhushan’s stand
When asked by Business Standard, Prashant Bhushan declined to comment on the progress of the talks. All he was willing to say was, “I see my role in the party as a conscience keeper, to ensure the party stays true to its founding principles. A lot of volunteers joined with the idealism that Aam Aadmi Party would be the vehicle of alternative politics. I will try to see that the party doesn’t stray from transparency, inner party democracy, swaraj (decentralised direct democracy). The day I find AAP has gone down the path of traditional political parties, with a high command culture, use of unethical means and reached a point of no return, then I will have no option but to quit the party.”
Scenario
Some of the senior negotiators are still hoping against hope to thresh out a consensus in the next two days. “We haven’t reached a final conclusion. We are trying to avoid a showdown and voting,” said a leader. The National Council, with its 300-plus members, can opt to vote on a decision, with some indicating there could even be a move to oust the duo from the party’s NE as well.
If one insider is to be believed, Kejriwal had taken a stance that he was not willing to work with Yadav and Bhushan any longer and had, therefore, forwarded his resignation as party convenor but, expectedly, his resignation was turned down. The hue and cry and the tremendous criticism that was generated in the wake of Yadav and Bhushan being removed from the PAC, and ny a slender margin, had forced Kejriwal and his aides to start a process of dialogue.
After nine days of talks, the current impasse shows little signs of thaw, with both camps admitting it could go either way – either a showdown or a miraculous breakthrough. As an anguished senior put it, “This is a crisis born of success.