Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on threatened to resign and lashed out at its founder-members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, moments before they were sacked from the National Executive, accusing them of engaging in "anti-party" activities.
According to sources, the Delhi chief minister started his speech at the party's National Council by recounting AAP's journey last year, from the lows of the quitting the government followed by its Lok Sabha debacle to the high of a historic victory in the Delhi Assembly polls.
"He traced the party's journey from the last National Council meet to the current one," a senior leader said.
But soon after that he mounted a sharp attack on the dissident duo and asked the members to "make a choice between him and them."
This prompted Yadav and Bhushan to accuse him of "instigating" the members.
"He categorically pointed out that Prashant Bhushan and his father Shanti Bhushan and Yadav made every effort to defeat AAP in Delhi elections.
"He said that when the whole party was working towards ensuring its victory in the polls, they were scheming for its defeat," the leader said.
Addressing a press conference later, Yadav accused Kejriwal of standing as a "mute spectator" to the alleged incidents of assaults on a section of NC members by bouncers.
"He gave a dramatic speech for around one hour and it was full of allegations against us. He threatened to resign if we were not removed. He also accused Shanti Bhushan of anti-party activities without taking his name. Then, 10 people, including MLAs like Kapil Mishra, shouted slogans calling us traitors. The drama went on for 5-7 minutes during which he (Kejriwal) stood like a statue," Yadav said.
Kejriwal, the party's national convenor, returned to the meeting in the afternoon, which he had left earlier citing "official engagements".
Continuing his attack on the duo, sources also quoted Kejriwal having said that "one phone of Prashant Bhushan landed me in jail."
Indicating the level of animosity between him and the revel duo, he said "I am ready to relinquish all the posts but I cannot work with this people."
He went on to tender his resignation from all party posts which was "unanimously rejected" by the National Council, according to a party statement.
