'We don't want anyone to remain in the party who keeps damaging the party.'
AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, who is leading the campaign to remove Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the party , speaks to A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com
Kapil Mishra, the Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Karawal Nagar in Delhi, started the signature campaign to remove senior leaders Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the party.
You have started a signature campaign to oust Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. Could you tell us why?
They have been acting against the party's interests for a very long time. During the Delhi elections we were fighting the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Congress on one hand and another battle with party insiders.
Everybody knows that in a press conference Shanti Bhushan said (BJP chief ministerial candidate) Kiran Bedi should be the chief minister of Delhi. It was a direct help to the BJP.
They were stopping volunteers from coming to Delhi during the campaigning.
Even after winning the election they are questioning the leadership, government, party functioning.
Enough is enough.
I was part of the India Against Corruption movement. I fought against the Commonwealth Games corruption. Now we cannot allow anyone to sabotage the movement. That is why I started this signature campaign.
Do you have any proof for your allegations?
Everyone is publicly saying that Shanti Bhushan was discouraging volunteers. It is all in the public domain. We are not talking about anything that is hidden.
Does Arvind Kejriwal know what you are doing?
He must have seen it in the news. I have not talked to him.
Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were ousted from AAP's national executive by a slender margin of 11 to 8. That means there are many who still support them.
We are a democratic party, so a vote was taken. I am proud of the fact that people voted. In other parties leaders are removed without any vote.
Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav have been repeatedly saying they want inner-party democracy, they don't want to leave the party.
They cannot decide whether to stay or not. That the national executive will decide.
We don't want anyone to remain in the party who keeps damaging the party. That cannot be allowed.
We don't want to be stabbed in the back. During the Delhi elections we were stabbed in the back.
Are you not going to give them a chance to explain their actions?
I am not the authority to decide that. When they were removed from the national executive, they were told not to speak to the media about party matters.
They have continued and they still talk against the party leadership.
The national executive will decide whether they stay in the party or not.
Images: Top: AAP volunteers celebrate their party's victory in the Delhi election.
Bottom: AAP MLA Kapil Mishra.
