Ex-leader Kingra accuses AAP top brass of corruption

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 1

The Aam Aadmi Party today ordered an inquiry into the allegations levelled by former AAP leader Hardip Singh Kingra, a supporter of ousted state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur, against party leaders Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak, even as a crucial meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), slated for this evening in New Delhi, was put off.

Party sources said the meeting, where the appointment of the new state convener was to be discussed, was not held as national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal failed to make it to the venue due to a busy schedule.

Earlier, addressing a press conference here this afternoon, Kingra, who quit AAP after not getting the ticket from Faridkot, released a clip in which a person allegedly close to Pathak demanded Rs 5 lakh from a volunteer for fixing a meeting with him. Kingra said he had been footing the board and lodging bill of the Delhi leaders, who never asked him about the source of the money.

He said state AAP legal head Himmat Singh Shergill also enjoyed his hospitality but later turned against him.

Kingra accused Sanjay of pocketing Rs 5 lakh out of about Rs 30 lakh collected from volunteers during the Maghi Mela early this year. He added that Rs 16 lakh collected from volunteers in Tarn Taran was also unaccounted for.

AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said the party would verify the audio tape and probe the allegations. Pathak said, “I am amused at the charges. I am willing to face any probe.”