New Delhi, Mar 3: AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has reacted strongly to the ongoing crisis within the party.
"I am deeply hurt and pained by what is going on in the party. This is betrayal of trust that Delhi posed in us," Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on Tuesday morning.
The Delhi chief minister has said he will under no circumstances break the trust that people of Delhi have reposed in his party.
AAP's national executive is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing power struggle.
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 on March 4 could end in edging out both Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the political affairs committee (PAC).
Yogendra Yadav, in a TV interview on Monday evening, stressed 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.
Meanwhile, in an interview to NDTV, Prashant Bhushan admitted that there had been a breakdown in communication between him and party convener Arvind Kejriwal.
Excerpts from joint letter by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan
Excerpts from the joint letter of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan to the AAP national executive, titled 'Note on the way forward', that has brought the rift in AAP out in the open:
* We should set up an internal ethics committee to look into any complaint related to violation of ethical standards that are the hallmark of our party. We have had a number of such complaints of late... We would also request the NE (National Executive) to refer two recent cases to this new committee: The four cheques of Rs.50 lakhs each received by the party in April, 2014 that led to a big media controversy just before Delhi elections. We now need to get to the root of these donations and find out if the PAC scrutiny mechanism failed and work out ways to avoid such an embarrassment in the future.
* Allegations of liquor recovery against our candidate Naresh Ballyan in Uttam Nagar. We must develop inner party mechanism that is at once quick, fair and also credible in terms of its distance from the political leadership. An inquiry into the Ballyan case could be the starting point.
* The PAC and the NE may retain the right to take final decision regarding assembly and the parliamentary elections in each state, but the state organisation must be given the right to decide on whether and how to contest local bodies elections.
* In order to strengthen inner party democracy, it must be mandatory to follow some basic constitutional protocols: the NE meetings must be held as per the prescribed frequency, the minutes of the NE meeting must be recorded properly, circulated and confirmed, the PAC minutes should be circulated to NE members.
Future steps
* We have a long way to go towards making our candidates selection process both transparent and participatory.
* We need to fulfill our promise of bringing the party within the purview of RTI.
* We need to reconstitute the PAC in the light of the principles (regional representation, gender parity etc.) and procedures (search, deliberation) as suggested by the Lokpal.
* We also need a standing policy group that serves as the party's think tank and provides it inputs both for governance and for responding to day to day issues.
* It would be useful to set up a mechanism for coordinating the work of party and that of the government in Delhi.
* We need a code of discipline, confidentiality and ethics for party members, especially for the party's office bearers and elected representatives, along with a mechanism for implementation of this code.
Comments
Add new comment