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In a setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), one of its founding members, Maqsood Ul Hasan Qasmi, resigned from the party on Monday, alleging it had nexus with certain corporate heads. The resignation came even as AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal is locked in a high-octane battle against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for the Varanasi seat.
At a press conference here, Qasmi alleged a member of an influential business family provided documents to AAP leader Prashant Bhushan to target rivals. The party was attacking only a few corporate entities, he added.
He also alleged certain corporate houses were paying salaries of party volunteers. Qasmi said he had conveyed this to Kejriwal but didn’t hear from him on these issues. However, when asked, he couldn’t furnish any documents to back his claims.
Qasmi also alleged the party had links with top Naxal leaders and Kejriwal personally went to Odisha to meet some of them when the party was formed. He questioned AAP's ticket distribution mechanism, raising questions over giving tickets to certain “outsiders”.
"A limited set of people have hijacked the party and I am ready to face Arvind if he denies the allegations that I have made," Qasmi said.
