Bhushan refuses to meet Bedi, AAP relieved

One of the founders of Aam Aadmi Party Shanti Bhushan on Friday gave a big relief to his party when he refused to meet Kiran Bedi after she sought an appointment.

The entire leadership of the party remained involved in controlling the damage done by his statement. However, insiders say that senior leader’s remark was an outcome of internal dissensions.

Smelling chances of a support, Bedi sought an appointment with the octogenarian leader. But his response was strong and dismissive. “No point in meeting me. I am in a different party,” Bhushan told her and advised her to concentrate on her campaign.

Bhushan had praised her in a TV interview that she could make a good Chief Minister and the BJP has done a masterstroke by bringing her.

The party leadership felt a sigh of relief after this. The emboldened party termed Bhushan’s praising her as a sign of internal democracy.

“We have democracy in our party. No other party can have this kind of freedom in which a son (Prashant Bhushan) can differ with the views of his father or seniors.
Can Rahul Gandhi express differences with her mother Sonia Gandhi or Akhilesh with father Mulayam Singh? We all have seen how L K Advani was sidelined after his terming Modi as an event manager,” senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh told media persons.

Prashant Bhushan had immediately dismissed senior Bhushan’s views and pointed out that Bedi had been opposed to joining politics and but she joined it ultimately.

According to party sources, Bhushan’s statement is, in fact, an outcome of internal dissensions in the party.

They say that Bhushan has been angry over such decisions like not contesting Assembly elections in states, especially in Haryana, after a debacle in Lok Sabha polls.

He, along with other leaders are unhappy over the distribution of tickets in Delhi elections. 

Many of the leaders are also opposed to admitting people from BJP and the Congress. Party leaders are, however, claiming that statement of Shanti Bhushan was played out of context.

In his interview, they say, he has attacked BJP and termed it as a communal party. “No one should expect that Bhushan might support BJP,” said an AAP leader.