AAP pacifies Vishwas with key post, acts against MLA
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to pacify its founding leader Kumar Vishwas on Wednesday by suspending an MLA who had spoken against the poet-politician, averting a crisis in Delhi’s ruling party facing dissension following a string of election defeats.
The party suspended Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan and set up a disciplinary committee to probe his alleged statements against Mr Vishwas that he was plotting to dislodge its chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Mr Khan had also called Mr Vishwas an “RSS-BJP agent” after the latter had indicated he might quit the party.
The party also decided to entrust Mr Vishwas with the responsibility of Rajasthan, which goes to the polls by the end of 2018.
As the party meeting went on at Mr Kejriwal’s Civil Lines residence, the mood outside was tense. Volunteers gathered in the hope that Mr Vishwas’ differences with the party will be sorted. A majority of them backed Mr Vishwas, who has amassed a massive fan following. As the poet-politician came out of the meeting, there was a loud cheer for him.
On Tuesday, Mr Vishwas had said he was unwilling to apologise for his video titled “We the Nation” in which he apparently hinted at corruption in the AAP government in Delhi.
Suspended AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, on Wednesday, went quiet on senior party leader Kumar Vishwas, whom he accused of hobnobbing with the RSS and the BJP.
He said he was upset with his suspension and laughed off a remark that he has locked horns with a “more powerful person in the party”. “Kumar is a PAC (political affairs committee) member like me,” he told this newspaper. Later in the day, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tried to pacify the beleaguered leader and met him at his Jamia Nagar residence.
“The party has been set up by its volunteers,” Mr Khan said, reacting to attempts by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy to placate Mr Vishwas, who wanted a disciplinary action against him.
The Okhla MLA said he has no plans of quitting the party. “I’m a loyal party worker,” he told reporters after meeting Mr Sisodia. He said he is willing to put his case before the three-member disciplinary committee constituted by the PAC to probe statements he made against one of the seniormost AAP functionaries.
Mr Vishwas had accused Mr Khan of being a “mask” and acting at the behest of a “coterie” surrounding the AAP chief, Mr Kejriwal.
After Mr Vishwas differed with Mr Kejriwal on the issue of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and said machines alone can’t be held responsible for the AAP’s electoral defeats, Mr Khan accused him of plotting a conspiracy to take control of the party.