A day after Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Pankaj Gupta and Gopal Rai wrote a letter accusing Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav of working against the party before the Delhi elections, the two senior AAP leaders wrote a spirited defence in a letter of their own to volunteers.
Contradicting points made by the four PAC members which had sought to give reasons why the two were ousted from the PAC, Yadav and Bhushan said that the letter was their final defence and that they would “keep a silence” from this point.
Acknowledging that volunteers will have been left anguished by the events of the past few days, Yadav and Bhushan however said they wanted the party to stick to its principles, but that both “would stay within party discipline and work within the party”. They acknowledged Kejriwal as “undisputed” leader of the party.
Excerpts from the five-page letter.
WHAT THEY ALLEGE
SEEKING CONGRESS SUPPORT: That Arvind Kejriwal and his associates thought of taking Congress support after Lok Sabha polls, and despite an application in court to dissolve the assembly, wanted to explore government formation with a Congress “that had lost public support”.
COMMITTEE DISSOLUTION: That shortly after the LS polls, Manish Sisodia wanted everyone in the political affairs committee and national executive to resign so Arvind could reconstitute it.
STATE POLLS: That the national executive was asked in June to seek opinion in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and J&K units on contesting state polls. Yogendra and Bhushan allege while the majority in the national executive wanted state units to decide autonomously, Kejriwal refused to campaign and the decision was overturned. This they call a procedural flaw in decision-making, though in retrospect “the party benefited” from the decision not to contest.
POSTER CAMPAIGNER: That in the run-up to the Delhi polls, in July, inflammatory posters that came up in response to a rumour about “Muslim MLAs of the Congress joining the BJP” were the work of someone who went on to assume charge of Okhla and became the party candidate, later MLA. The AAP ended up being “an accomplice of that person”, the letter says.
DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE: That the party brushed under the carpet the procedures to verify charges of political misdemeanour, the role of a party member in that, and the process of appeal on disciplinary matters.
TAINTED CANDIDATES: The two detail what led them to criticise candidate selection and seek to justify their position on moral grounds, and of wanting clean candidates, unlike other parties.
CHARGES, COUNTERS
The two leaders say they don’t want to address the charges against them but do so anyway.
* On Shanti Bhushan’s pro-Kiran Bedi statements
They distance themselves: “It is better to ask Shanti Bhushan himself.”
* On Prashant wanting the party ‘to lose’ the elections
They say Prashant was khinn or miffed at the choice of some candidates and winnability being the only criterion, and worried about a win taking the party down an continued…
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