Arvind Kejriwal should know that he is not Gandhi and cannot stand outside party affairs
It may not be betrayal but has all the trappings of it. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called the letter war in his party as betrayal of people, but refused to be drawn into the infighting.
Can Kejriwal ignore his party and make himself different and stay aloof? Only Mahatma Gandhi could stay out of party and retain moral authority over Congress party leaders.
Kejriwal is no Gandhi and he has to confront the problems of AAP. The very attitude Kejriwal keeping himself different is being questioned by the top people in his party.
AAP convenor and chief minister Kejriwal tweeted on Tuesday that "I am deeply hurt and pained by what is going on in the party. This is betrayal of trust that Delhi posed in us."
Trying to distance himself from the infighting, Kejriwal says that he will concentrate only on Delhi's governance.
The Delhi chief minister has said he will under no circumstances break the trust that people of Delhi have reposed in his party.
The differences within the party surfaced after senior AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan wrote a letter on Feb 26 against the manner in which the party is being run by Kejriwal. In the letter, Bhushan had alleged that the AAP was turning into a 'one-man party'.
On Monday, Kejriwal's confidantes sharpened their attack against the troika of Shanti-Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav accusing them of hatching a conspiracy against the party chief.
The meeting to be held on Wednesday (March 4) could edge out both Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the political affairs committee (PAC).
Yogendra Yadav has said that Kejriwal was easily the tallest leader in AAP and there was no question of even thinking of removing him from the post of national convenor.
Prashant Bhushan admitted that there had been a breakdown in communication between him and party convener Arvind Kejriwal.
AAP leader Ashutosh also later took to Twitter to confirm the rift within the party. He tweeted, “The decisive churning in AAP. It's clash of ideas between ultra left who demand referendum in Kashmir and pragmatic politics of welfarism.”
“Churning in AAP is not a clash of personalities but of ideas. This will make way for future politics of AAP. This is my personal view.”
Senior party leader Ashish Khetan accused AAP mentor Shanti Bhushan and his family of trying to have a "vice-like grip" on the ruling party in Delhi. "Father son daughter trio of Shanti Prashant & Shalini wanted to have a vice-like grip on all party wings, from PAC to policy committee to NE," Khetan tweeted on Tuesday amid a massive rumbling within the AAP.
Khetan added with another tweet: "Those who are floating the ridiculous one man party theory wanted to make AAP one family party." The AAP has accused Shanti Bhushan, his son Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav of trying to remove Arvind Kejriwal as the convener of the party. The senior Bhushan had once openly said Yadav should be made AAP convener.
