AAP faces first revolt

Aam Aadmi Party was today grappling with open rebellion as its MLA Vinod Kumar Binny mounted a shrill attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by calling him a "dictator" and accused his government of cheating people, prompting the party to threaten disciplinary action against the legislator.
The Laxmi Nagar MLA, who was sulking after being left out of the Cabinet last month, addressed a press conference where he slammed the AAP leadership on a range of issues and alleged that all decisions in the party are taken in closed rooms by four-five people.
"You (Kejriwal) have become a dictator. Stop fooling the people of Delhi. All decisions in the party are taken in closed rooms by four-five people. Arvind gets angry if people express any difference. If anyone speaks against him, he starts shouting," Binny, a former Congressman, said.

He accused the AAP government of "cheating" Delhiites on a range of issues including power and water and said the party was deviating from its ideologies and promises.
"They are using policy of use and throw. First, they have used Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi and still many people in the party are being exploited," he said.
AAP promptly refuted the allegations levelled by Binny and said disciplinary action would be initiated against the legislator for levelling "baseless accusations".

Senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said the MLA was reading "someone else's script" and alleged that he had come under influence of BJP. Yadav said the MLA levelled the allegations as he was denied a ministerial berth last month and also a Lok Sabha ticket.

"The party's Political Affairs Committee will initiate disciplinary action against Binny and accordingly a show cause notice will be issued to him," Yadav said, adding party members could have different opinions but indiscipline would not be tolerated.
Yadav said if the MLA had grievances, then he could have ventilated them in the party forum and not in the media.
"Today when Binny was speaking, it seemed that he was reading a script given to him by someone else. He has raised all those issue which the Leader of the Opposition Harsh Vardhan has been raising for the past few days," he said.

The MLA said no probe has been initiated against Sheila Dikshit over corruption allegations since Kejriwal shares a "close friendship" with Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit.