Rebel AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira today accused the party's central leadership of having double standards, saying when senior leaders could stage sit-in protest at Delhi's Lieutenant Governor office for their "rights", why was their fight for autonomy being regarded as "anti-party" activity.
Khaira, who was leading a group of dissident Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, also lashed out at party leadership for distributing tickets to "wrong people" in the 2017 assembly polls.
He said a three-member review committee under the chairmanship of MLA Kanwar Sandhu had been constituted to look into party's drubbing in the Assembly polls in 2017. It will present its report within 45 days.
The Punjab unit of the AAP has been in turmoil since Khaira was removed from the post of Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly last month.
Khaira and seven other MLAs have declared the AAP's Punjab unit "autonomous" and "dissolved" the present organisational structure.
The rebel leader said they will not be scared by "threats" from the party leadership and were committed to the resolutions passed on August 2 during volunteers' convention at Bathinda.
"On one side, our Delhi leaders say that Delhi (government) should get more rights. They had even staged a dharna at LG's office. What were they demanding? They were demanding more rights and autonomy.
"But when we demand the same autonomy, we get to hear that action will be taken for indiscipline and anti-party activity. Is it not double standards," asked Khaira while addressing a volunteers convention at Garhshankar organized by local AAP MLA Jai Krishan Singh Rori.
"We are not going back from our resolutions passed in Bathinda... If they try to browbeat us with the threat of removing us as MLAs, then we are not going to take it," he said.
The dissident MLAs have already formed a parallel ad-hoc political affairs committee (PAC).
Khaira, who is an MLA from Bholath, said their fight was not for any chair as alleged by Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann.
Addressing the gathering, Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu ascribed AAP's defeat in Assembly polls to wrong distribution of tickets.
"Despite a strong wave in AAP's favour, the party faced the defeat. There are several reasons of that defeat. One of the reasons was that wrong distribution of tickets," he said.
He said he was also asked to fight from Garhshankar seat. "But I insisted on fighting from Kharar seat as I have no base in Garhshankar," said Sandhu.
He also alleged that nobody in the party bothered to find out the causes behind the defeat in polls.
Earlier, Khaira said they would hold a conference at Issru in Ludhiana on August 15. Then volunteers convention will be held at Faridkot on August 22 followed by similar events on August 25 at Gurdaspur and September 2 at Moga.
Other dissident MLAs including Nazar Singh Manshahia (Mansa), Master Baldev (Jaitu) were also present.
Meanwhile, some AAP activists protested with black flags against Khaira when he was passing through Garhshankar, accusing him of trying to divide the party.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
