Founder leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were voted out of the top decision-making body of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday after a six-hour meeting of its national executive council that also rejected Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's offer to quit as the party's national convenor.
The duo were voted out after the NE meeting failed to arrive at a consensus on the fate of the two who had raised a banner of revolt against Kejriwal's style of functioning. However, what was supposed to be a cakewalk for Kejriwal supporters who were determined to expel the dissenting duo from the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) became a close call in the end with 11 supporting their removal, 8 opposing and 2 abstaining.
Kejriwal didn't attend the meeting, and sources close to him had said earlier that he was going to Bangalore for naturopathy treatment.
Another top leader Kumar Vishwas did not vote since he chaired the meeting. “It was a very civil affair. No name calling, no ugly accusations were made,“ said an NE member who did not wish to be identified.
However, there were many anguished faces at the venue in the outskirts of Delhi where a huge crowd of AAP workers had gathered. According to sources, a key suggestion made during the meeting was that all members of the PAC should withdraw and the body should be constituted afresh, but leaders considered close to Kejriwal shot it down. With no consensus emerging, the resolution was finally moved towards the end of the meeting.
Sources said Yadav and Bhushan were informally offered posts of Maharashtra convenor and that of legal cell head, respectively, but the duo shot them down. This was not discussed openly at the NE meeting.
The motion to remove Yadav and Bhushan citing “mistrust“ between them and “some members of PAC“ was moved by Delhi deputy CM and Kejriwal's Man Friday Manish Sisodia. Party spokesman Sanjay Singh seconded it.
Bhushan and Yadav are locked in an “ideological battle“ with Kejriwal who has a firm grip among AAP's rank and file. While Bhushan has accused Kejriwal of making the party a “one-man show“ and demanded more inner democracy, Yadav wants AAP to build on its recent success in Delhi polls and take roots across India. Kejriwal has reiterated that at least for the immediate future, the party will focus only on Delhi, where he is the chief minister.
The meeting also decided that the party will look into the issue of “dubious donations“ that had rocked the party during the campaign for Delhi Assembly polls in which the party had stunned political watchers by bagging 67 of the 70 Assembly seats. The NE meeting also decided that the call on whether to contest local body elections or not will be the prerogative of state units.
The next meeting of the national council and national executive will be held in the last week of March. AAP leaders Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan were present at the venue but did not attend the meeting, as they are not NE members.
The duo were voted out after the NE meeting failed to arrive at a consensus on the fate of the two who had raised a banner of revolt against Kejriwal's style of functioning. However, what was supposed to be a cakewalk for Kejriwal supporters who were determined to expel the dissenting duo from the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) became a close call in the end with 11 supporting their removal, 8 opposing and 2 abstaining.
Kejriwal didn't attend the meeting, and sources close to him had said earlier that he was going to Bangalore for naturopathy treatment.
Another top leader Kumar Vishwas did not vote since he chaired the meeting. “It was a very civil affair. No name calling, no ugly accusations were made,“ said an NE member who did not wish to be identified.
However, there were many anguished faces at the venue in the outskirts of Delhi where a huge crowd of AAP workers had gathered. According to sources, a key suggestion made during the meeting was that all members of the PAC should withdraw and the body should be constituted afresh, but leaders considered close to Kejriwal shot it down. With no consensus emerging, the resolution was finally moved towards the end of the meeting.
Sources said Yadav and Bhushan were informally offered posts of Maharashtra convenor and that of legal cell head, respectively, but the duo shot them down. This was not discussed openly at the NE meeting.
The motion to remove Yadav and Bhushan citing “mistrust“ between them and “some members of PAC“ was moved by Delhi deputy CM and Kejriwal's Man Friday Manish Sisodia. Party spokesman Sanjay Singh seconded it.
Bhushan and Yadav are locked in an “ideological battle“ with Kejriwal who has a firm grip among AAP's rank and file. While Bhushan has accused Kejriwal of making the party a “one-man show“ and demanded more inner democracy, Yadav wants AAP to build on its recent success in Delhi polls and take roots across India. Kejriwal has reiterated that at least for the immediate future, the party will focus only on Delhi, where he is the chief minister.
The meeting also decided that the party will look into the issue of “dubious donations“ that had rocked the party during the campaign for Delhi Assembly polls in which the party had stunned political watchers by bagging 67 of the 70 Assembly seats. The NE meeting also decided that the call on whether to contest local body elections or not will be the prerogative of state units.
The next meeting of the national council and national executive will be held in the last week of March. AAP leaders Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan were present at the venue but did not attend the meeting, as they are not NE members.
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