Ravinder Vasudeva
CHANDIGARH: Cracks were visible in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday as most of its 20 MLAs in Punjab want their central leadership to come to Chandigarh to explain party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s apology to a former state minister over drugs trafficking.
The demand came after the AAP leadership invited its Punjab unit leaders and MLAs for a meeting with party convener Kejriwal in New Delhi on Sunday.
“Why we should go? Galti vi oho karan, te bulaan vi sanu Delhi nu? (First they make the mistake and now want us to visit them in Delhi). Most of us are not going,” said Sukhpal Singh Khaira, AAP legislator and leader of the opposition in the assembly.
Kejriwal apologised on Thursday to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who had filed a defamation case against him, for alleging that he was involved in illegal drugs.
The legislators of the AAP, the main opposition in the assembly of 117, are divided over the apology as the party’s 2017 poll campaign in Punjab hinged heavily on tackling the state’s drugs problem, including allegations against Majithia.
Besides Khaira, those declining the invitation are senior leaders Kanwar Sandhu, HS Phoolka and Nazar Singh Manshahia.
“He told us that he is tendering apologies in all defamation cases, including the one filed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, because he thinks fighting these cases is a waste of time and needs huge amount of money as fee for lawyers,” Sandhwan said.
These three were among seven MLAs who did not attend a meeting on Friday evening in which 13 of their lawmaker colleagues decided against going to Delhi, according to a party source who doesn’t want to be named.
According to Bhagwant Mann, the AAP parliamentarian for Sangrur, there is “no harm” in meeting Kejriwal in Delhi.
“We should at least listen to what he has to say,” said the popular comedian-politician who resigned as state unit president in protest against the apology on Friday.
Amid the drama played out in the AAP, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh dismissed as antic Kejriwal’s apology to Majithia, who has since withdrawn the defamation case.
Singh said the apology reflected Kejriwal’s political inexperience and appeared to be a desperate attempt to reduce the burden of defamation cases. NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal could apologise to his complainants in various cases, including defamation, if they offer out-of-court settlements, a city official said on Saturday.
Kejriwal has to appear in at least 16 court cases from Monday till April 10. These include defamation cases filed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, and road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari for allegations made by the AAP chief.
“One thing is clear that the government is not going to waste any more time, energy and resources in fighting court cases. In all the upcoming cases, if the complainant seeks an apology to settle the case, the chief minister would choose that over fighting a long-drawn court battle,” a government spokesperson said.
Kejriwal wriggled out of a defamation case after he apologised on Thursday to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who the AAP chief had accused of promoting illegal drugs in Punjab.
Finance minister Jaitley had sued Kejriwal for accusing him of corruption during his 13-year tenure as the head of the Delhi District Cricket Association.
According to the AAP’s Punjab legislator Kultar Singh, who came to meet the party chief on Saturday, the apology to Majithia was a move to “save time”.
Singh said: “Kejriwal told us that he is going to apologise to everyone against whom he has court cases. He said the cases are serving no purpose to the people. Also, he said he would have fought court cases till the end had these been related to the public.”