Manuke accuses Khaira of working against party unity

CHANDIGARH : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislature party deputy leader Sarabjit Kaur Manuke, on Thursday, accused Bholath MLA and dissident leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira of working against unity in the party.

In a letter to the dissident group’s coordination panel head and Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu, Manuke said Khaira was not interested in unity in the party. Manuke, who heads the AAP’s five-member coordination committee, sent the letter a day after Khaira hit out at the party’s state leadership for appointing 14 new office-bearers while having unity talks. Khaira had fired the salvo just hours after the two squabbling sides had decided not to criticise or speak against each other in public. Commenting on the demands made by the dissident group in Tuesday’s reconciliation meeting, Manuke said they wanted the party’s organisational structure dissolved even though they were told that the state unit had constituted a 22-member core committee which could be expanded to induct their supporters. “The dissident group members keep saying that their fight is not about posts, but their demands were mostly about that. They also insisted that Khaira should be head the state unit,” said a party leader who did not want to be named.

Though the two factions had decided to hold discussions with their colleagues and revert, the ‘truce’ did not last long. Both sides have refused to state whether they will sit together again to take the talks forward.