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It claimed to be a "party with a difference", but the no-holds-barred slugfest that has engulfed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has raised questions about the loud claims of transparency and inner-party democracy that made the party distinct.
The group of Sanjay Singh, Ashish Khetan and Ashutosh made it clear on Friday that questioning in any way the actions of AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is tantamount to "anti-party" activities, and by that parameter, party co-founders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were "working against the interests of the party."
The breakdown of talks on Thursday between the two factions led to a fresh round of charges and counter-charges between the two camps throughout Friday, amidst the stunning silence of Kejriwal.
By late evening, yet another sting-audio conversation was doing the rounds, in which Kejriwal is allegedly heard using expletives against Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan and threatening to walk away from AAP with 67 MLAs.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Bhushan-Yadav duo lashed out at a press conference, accusing the Kejriwal camp of peddling lies about them, categorically stating they had not resigned from the National Executive. Without mincing words, Bhushan said of Kejriwal, "He wants his decisions to be final. He cannot work with people who have differing voices and stand up to him. He thinks his intentions are right but means should be clean as well. That is not enough; means matter a lot."
One of the five demands of the duo is that AAP forward the sting tapes of Kejriwal allegedly indulging in horse-trading with Congress MLAs to the internal Lok Pal for a thorough probe - the demand has been outrightly rejected by the Kejriwal camp. "This demand shows they want Kejriwal ousted as national convenor," said Ashutosh.
Denying the accusations, the Kejriwal camp held a counter press conference in a bid to stump the duo and produced a "common apology letter" which all of them were to be signatory to. They claimed that Yadav and Bhushan had been satisfied with the talks and agreed to a consensus, but as they were working at the behest of "external forces", they "backtracked" at the last moment.
The deepening fault lines comes on the eve of the 350-member National Council meeting on Saturday, which is likely to be a stormy one. Sources indicate that an attempt might be made to oust the two from the National Executive, just as they had been removed from the Political Affairs Committee.
To ensure that proceedings are not unruly and are transparent, the duo has demanded that the National Council meeting be videographed and if need be webcast - a demand that has again been rejected by the Kejrial coterie.
Since the National Council is a body that has the power to overrule the decisions of the PAC and the NE, Bhushan demanded that the list of council members who have voting rights should be made public; this has again been rejected by the Kejriwal camp. By all accounts, AAP is henceforth unlikely to resemble the original party that captured the imagination of a public that was hankering for a political alternative.
