Bhushan, Ramdas lose key AAP posts

Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service 

New Delhi, March 29

A day after Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal demonstrated his dominance by sacking four senior leaders from the party’s national executive (NE), AAP today reconstituted the party’s internal Lokpal panel.

Former Navy Chief Admiral Ramdas was removed from the post, with the party saying that Ramdas' tenure had ended in December 2013.

The AAP has also put in place a new three-member national disciplinary committee to be headed by Dinesh Waghela. Party general secretary Pankaj Gupta and Delhi Dialogue Commission deputy chairperson Ashish Khetan are the two members. 

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan has been dropped from the key disciplinary panel through which he had questioned the party’s transparency and “dubious” functioning, gradually paving the way for his and his aide Yogendra Yadav’s exit from AAP. The three new names declared for the AAP Lokpal panel are former IPS officer N Dilip Kumar, former Deputy Inspector General of Central Industrial Security Force Rakesh Sinha and educationist Dr SP Verma.

 The decisions came following an emergency NE meeting today at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Civil Lines residence. The party also made public the video of Kejriwal’s 45-minute “insinuating” address during the national council meeting on Saturday that was a precursor to the high-voltage drama that unfolded later. 

In the video, he reminded the audience of the historic mandate in the Delhi poll and subsequent “achievements”. Then, Kejriwal attacked the duo, accusing them of conspiring to unseat him from the post of AAP national convener. 

He said, “Whatever happened in the last one-and-a-half months, did that strengthen us? Did Arvind Kejriwal become strong?  Was Prashant Bhushan or Yogendra Yadav strengthened? Is that internal democracy or swaraj? The party’s image was maligned. Modi was benefitted...Is this a fight for principles or ambition?”

He said it had been happening for one year. At a time when the public supported us, our own friends (Yadav and Bhushan) stabbed us in the back. There had been fights at every NE meeting with “screaming and shouting,” he said.

Kejriwal ended his speech in an imposing manner, saying, “My fight is not against party members, but corruption. Take the party, don’t kill it like this. Now you have to decide if you want to be with them or me. I don’t want to put you in a dilemma. Here is my resignation from all party posts and I will be an ordinary party worker. Your decision will be acceptable to me.”

He left the meeting telling Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai to carry on the proceedings even as Manish Sisodia is understood to be managing the stage.