MLAs seek expulsion of Yadav, Bhushans

Launch signature campaign against trio

A section of the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs on Wednesday launched a letter campaign against dissidents Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan, asking the AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to take exemplary action against them.

Started by AAP legislator from Karawal Nagar Kapil Mishra, the campaign against the trio comes just a day after the party top brass issued a statement accusing them of conspiring against the party.

Mishra claimed that 60 of the 67 AAP MLAs have signed the petition so far. “They have conspired against the party. The party must expel these two to set an example. Message should go down the line,” he said.

The party legislators Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Dinesh Mohaniya (Sangam Vihar), Praveen Kumar (Jangpura), Surinder Singh (Delhi Cantt) and former minister Girish Soni (Madipur), among others, met on Wednesday to sign the petition.
Mishra said the letter will be sent to Kejriwal when he is back from Bengaluru, where he is currently undergoing naturopathy treatment.

“No disciplinary action was taken by the Political Affairs Committee (PAC). They (Yadav and Prashant Bhushan) were only released from the PAC and new responsibilities are to assigned to them,” Mohaniya told Deccan Herald.

He said it is for the party to decide whether or not they should be expelled from the party.

The two-page letter levels allegations that are similar to what senior party functionaries Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Pankaj Gupta and Sanjay Singh made in their joint statement, Mohaniya added.

“I was present in the meeting where (Prashant) Bhushan said that AAP will and should lose these elections,” said Shastri, accusing the beleaguered leaders of airing their dirty linen in public. 

However, there are a few legislators who have still not signed the letter, among them are Col Devendra Sehrawat, the Bijwasan MLA, and Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar.

“Why should a person be punished twice for the same crime? They have already been removed from the political affairs committee,” said Sehrawat. He added that the party has not issued any kind of whip or order on signing the petition.

Attacking the party’s top brass for going public with the rift, Yadav had earlier accused the AAP leadership of coercing party functionaries and MLAs into signing statements against them.