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The ‘rebel’ Aam Aadmi Party faction’s ‘Swaraaj Samwad’ meet, spearheaded by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, decided on Tuesday in majority voting to not quit the AAP but instead carry out a countrywide ‘Swaraaj Abhiyan’ (movement).
While opting to work for “swaraaj” from within the party, the meeting at Gurgaon made vocal the “lack of democracy with AAP” but resolved to decide only after six months on whether to strike out separately, after taking a feedback from citizens during the ‘abhiyaan’.
AAP spokesperson Ashutosh indicated on Tuesday that disciplinary action could be taken against those who attended.
Among the AAP’s 67 MLAs (in a city legislative assembly of 70), only one, Pankaj Pushkar, who represents Timarpur in north Delhi, was present at the meet. And, party MP and its leader in the Lok Sabha, Dharamvir Gandhi, sent a letter expressing support for the ‘Samvaad’ dialogue, espousing “freedom to voice one’s opinion”.
Unperturbed at the possibility of disciplinary action, Pankaj Pushkar said, "Our party is new. Different people have different opinions on discipline. I believe that today's meeting is in line with the ideals of our party".
Political observers believe the AAP rebel quartet of Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha were more keen on using this “show of strength” to pressurise the AAP and were not too keen on forming a new political party yet, aware of the limitations of their resources and clout. More, most prominent names who had quit AAP, unhappy at the state of affairs, did not make it to the meet but sent video messages. Christina Samy, another expelled National Executive member, retired Admiral L Ramdas and Aruna Roy sent written messages. Kuldeep Nayar sent a video message and Medha Patkar opted not to come, as it was a gathering of AAP volunteers. Mayank Gandhi was also absent.
About 2,000 AAP volunteers were present at the day-long deliberations, with voting conducted at the end of the session. According to the declared results, when asked ‘Should there be a new political party?’, 70 per cent were in favour of not leaving the AAP but to stay on and reform it from within; 25 per cent voted to form a new party, 1.4 per cent said they trusted the party leadership and 3.4 per cent opted for ‘Don't know’.
Yogendra Yadav at the meeting said, “We need to change track but do we need to float a new party? It’s not the time. If we need alternative politics, we need to go to the public. We will decide in another six months.”
Prashant Bhushan said, on similar lines: "If today we announce the launch of a party, it would run into the same situations that AAP is now facing. We will have to start a new dialogue on issues like challenges being faced by the farmers...development models in the country through swaraj and find solutions and launch a movement.”
At the beginning of the discussion, retired Admiral L Ramdas, former ‘Lok Pal’ of the AAP, in a recorded message played at the meeting, said, “We have all failed to live up to those promises (founding principles) and allowed ourselves to fall prey to undemocratic behaviour, which needs no elaboration. I do not think the concept of swaraj ever envisaged the kind of actions, abuse and strong-arm tactics which many have witnessed in the recent events connected with our National Executive and National Council meetings."
Speaking to reporters after the rebel meet, AAP spokesperson Ashutosh said, "The entire exercise that happened today and the speeches of different people present on the dais -- it's very clear that they have already decided they will break the party." He hinted that the AAP leadership would soon meet and discuss on what to do.
