AAPheavals: Fierce and frequent
AAP emerged as a frontrunner on Punjab’s political scene leading to the 2017 assembly elections, according to many pundits, but the results gave Congress a massive mandate, with AAP a distant second. While pre-poll infighting in the AAP was blamed for its disappointment, new fissures have been opening up ever since.
April 2017: After the Punjab assembly poll results, daggers were out with several AAP leaders blaming the central leadership for not naming a CM candidate and thus leading to a performance much below expectations. Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak, in-charges of state unit affairs, quit posts.
June: Leader of opposition HS Phoolka, whose performance seen as lacklustre by some MLAs, steps down, saying he needed to time to fight the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases July: Sukhpal Singh Khaira, the only party MLA with previous legislative experience (as Congress MLA), appointed new leader of opposition in Punjab assembly
November: Khaira in the dock for alleged dealings with a convicted drug smuggler; loses cool in state assembly over an audio clip row, uses intemperate language and takes swipes at CM’s private life; AAP leaders apologise
December: Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia made in-charge of Punjab to put the house in order March 2018: Party boss Arvind Kejriwal apologises to SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia to settle a drug allegation-related defamation case; state unit chief Bhagwant Mann and co-chief Aman Arora quit; threat of split looms as half the MLAs, including Khaira, don’t show up for Kejriwal’s meeting in Delhi
June: Khaira’s purported statement in favour of ‘Referendum 2020’ propagated by Sikh radicals puts the party in an awkward position, besides giving ammunition to political adversaries; Kejriwal does not meet him in Delhi
July: Khaira alleges plot in AAP to oust him as opposition leader, hits out at state co-president Dr Balbir Singh for reportedly alleging that he (Khaira) took cash from party workers; now, party has replaced Khaira with Harpal Singh Cheema