Dissident AAP leader Yogendra Yadav today questioned the move to issue show cause notices to him and Prashant Bhushan, saying it was against the principle of natural justice as those who had levelled allegations against them were part of the disciplinary committee.
Yadav also said that in a telephonic conversation national disciplinary committee chairman Dinesh Waghela had told him that the panel is yet to take up the matter.
His remarks came as AAP leader Ashutosh said that a chargesheet is being readied and notice will soon be served to the rebel leaders.
"I am surprised that a person (Ashutosh) who is not a member of the committee is issuing the statement. Yesterday, I called Dinesh Waghela, who is the chairman of the national disciplinary committee. I made him a formal call and asked him about the status of the inquiry against us. He said he is in Goa and there is still no reference of the committee yet. So till yesterday there was no meeting on this.
"I also conveyed to him that this was against the principle of natural justice as two members of the disciplinary committee had levelled allegations against him and Bhushan," Yadav said.
He was referring to Ashish Kehtan and Pankaj Gupta.
The rebel leader added, "If a judge is directly or even indirectly related to a case, then he rescues himself from that particular case. How can a complainant itself be a judge?"
Bhushan, Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha were dropped from top panels of the party at the National Council meeting last month. On Wednesay, the party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) referred their case to the national disciplinary committee.
Yadav took a jibe at the party saying it was becoming an "election machinery" of a city state, which is the root cause for the current crisis in the party.
Yadav alleged the party is "non-serious" about policy issues, which was the main reason behind the conflict between the two groups of the party.
With the rebel AAP group forming a new front Swaraj Abhiyan, Yadav said it intends to focus on national issues and country-wide agitation, but cannot ignore the national capital, where it will battle for space with the AAP.
Yadav claimed that six people have volunteered to give them office spaces and people have committed to them with offers of seed money.
