AAP’S choices for Upper House stoke internal turf war

KUMAR VISHWAS SAID HE HAD BEEN PUNISHED FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH WHILE THE BJP CALLED AAP A PARTY OF ‘KHAAS AADMI’

NEWDELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday nominated senior leader Sanjay Singh, Delhi-based businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta as its Rajya Sabha nominees, triggering a spat within the party and attracting criticism from opposition parties on its picks.

“After deliberations over eight names in the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), we have decided to nominate party leader Sanjay Singh, chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta and social worker Sushil Gupta for Rajya Sabha,” said Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

Both the Guptas are not very well-known and the move to pick them comes after former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and former chief justice of India TS Thakur turned down the AAP’S offer of a Rajya Sabha seat.

The decision to nominate Sushil Gupta, a businessman and a former Congressman, over a host of party leaders has not gone down well with many, including AAP leader Kumar Vishwas.

“Be it the PAC or my elder brother Arvind Kejriwal’s decision on issues like the surgical strike, taking a soft stand on terrorists, his silence on ticket distribution and JNU... whatever truth I spoke, I have been rewarded and punished today,” said Vishwas, whose views on many of these issues ran counter to the AAP’S own.