AAP's Admiral L Ramdas laments trust deficit between senior leaders - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: In what confirms rumours of a rift in Aam Aadmi Party's top leadership, party veteran Admiral L Ramdas, has shot off a letter to Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan expressing anguish over the growing divide and trust deficit between the three senior leaders.

Lamenting their inability to resolve differences, Ramdas, who heads the party's internal Lokpal, has drawn the attention of the three founding members to the importance of "internal unity" and appealed for a quick resolution. "This was his statesman-like advice to the three leaders who he has seen working together on several occasions. It was an attempt to personally counsel them," said a senior AAP leader, who is privy to the details of the letter and did not wish to be identified.

"He (Ramdas) wondered why they are drifting apart when each of them is so passionate about the cause of clean politics. He wants them to take some steps to resolve their problems as internal unity is paramount for the party's good," the above leader added.

When ET spoke to Bhushan, he admitted that Ramdas had, indeed, written a letter, but did not elaborate on its contents. "It's not right for me to discuss internal party matters with the media," he said. Yadav was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts. ET could not confirm if the three leaders had replied to the missive.

The news of the letter has surfaced at a time when the party is battling the perception of a divided house. Matters came to a head at a meeting of AAP's national executive (NE) on last Thursday during which the attendees were informed of Kejriwal's offer to resign as the party convenor.

"He (Kejriwal) could not attend the meeting, but his message, communicated through a note and informally through party secretary Pankaj Gupta, was pretty clear. Arvind wanted to step down as the convenor unless the NE allowed him to reconstitute the PAC (political advisory committee)," said another party leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Consisting of about 10 members (including Yadav and Bhushan), the PAC is AAP's highest decision-making body.

According to sources, the PAC hasn't held a single meeting in the last four months as its members, mainly Kejriwal, Bhushan and Yadav, were unable to reach a consensus on most issues. "With no end in sight to the impasse, Kejriwal then constituted the Delhi Election Campaign Committee in November last year to take all important decisions on elections. Yadav and Bhushan were not part of this committee. In wake of this development, the PAC became a passive body," the above leader added.

Kejriwal, Bhushan and Yadav, reportedly, differed over candidate selection. So much so, that Bhushan and Yadav together red-flagged the candidature of 12 AAP representatives contesting Delhi elections. The complaint was escalated to the party's internal lokpal headed by Ramdas, who then recommended the withdrawal of two candidates.