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Fissures in the Aam Aadmi Party deepened on Thursday with senior leader Mayank Gandhi expressing shock and attacking the “manner of and intention” in removing Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the party’s Political Affairs Committee on Wednesday evening.
Gandhi, who abstained from voting on Wednesday in the National Executive meeting, said he was shocked when Manish Sisodia introduced a proposal for removing Yadav and Bhushan despite the duo voluntarily offering to step down. “I was taken aback by the resolution of removing them publicly, especially as they themselves were willing to leave,” he said in his blog.
Gandhi, who is a senior party member from Maharashtra, also revealed that Kejriwal had earlier conveyed that he will “not be able” to work as the AAP national convener if Bhushan and Yadav were part of the PAC. He said it was alleged that Yadav was conspiring against Kejriwal and some evidence was also produced in the meeting.
“There were also operational irreconcilable differences and trust deficit between AK (Kejriwal), PB (Bhushan) and YY (Yadav). Yogendra said that he understood that Arvind did not want them in PAC, as it was difficult for him to work together. He and Prashant would be happy to stay out of PAC, but they should not be singled out. Two formulas were put forward by him.
“That the PAC be reconstituted and new PAC members be elected through voting. PB and YY will not put their candidature. That PAC continue to function in the present form and YY and PB would not attend any of the meetings,” he said.
He further added that after the meeting reconvened after a break, “Manish and others conferred with the Delhi team of Ashish Khetan, Asutosh, Dilip Pandey and others.”
“After reassembling, Manish proposed a resolution that YY and PB be removed from the PAC and it was seconded by Sanjay Singh,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said that he was “shocked” with the proposal introduced by Sisodia. “I was taken aback by the resolution of removing them publicly, especially as they themselves were willing to leave. Also, this decision to sack them was against the overwhelming sentiments of volunteers from all over the world.
“So, while I agreed that they can step down from the PAC, the manner and intention behind the resolution was not acceptable. Hence, the decision to abstain,” Gandhi said.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters in the morning, Yadav refused to comment on Gandhi’s blog saying he had “gone through” it. He also rejected the possibilities of quitting the party asking supporters to have “faith, have belief”.
“I will continue to work with the party for the principles of swaraj, democracy, morality and honour. This is not the time to lose hope in AAP,” he said.
Later, speaking to reporters, Gandhi brushed off any possibilities that the party may act against him over his remarks, saying there is always a “higher truth” and AAP was only a “medium” for him to serve the country.
In his blog he also wrote, “This is not a revolt, nor is this some publicity ploy. I will not go to the press. There may be some repercussions overt and covert against me. So be it.”
Gandhi, who was also a key member of the Anna Hazare-led anti-graft movement, dismissed charges of his blog being another “leak” from the party ranks. “There are people who leak letters and there are people who do not leak letters. I am one of those who never leak letters,” he said.
He said that he had put up his blog post in an attempt to connect with party volunteers across the globe. “I realised that volunteers must know what went on in the NE meeting and I informed them in my way,” he said.
Booting out Bhushan and Yadav from AAP's PAC was against the "overwhelming sentiments" of volunteers, especially when they were prepared to step down voluntarily, Gandhi said.
He also appeared to dare action against him by the party, saying he had written the blog defying a gag order. "Last night, I was told that disciplinary action would be taken against me, if I revealed anything. So be it -- my first allegiance is to the higher truth," he said.
Read the full text of AAP senior leader Mayank Gandhi's open letter to party volunteers.