Cold war continues in AAP, hostility at meet
Party must go back to basics: Vishwas
Tensions within the Aam Aadmi Party do not seem to end.
Poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas faced hostility from suspended AAP leader Amanatullah Khan's supporters on Saturday before he was to convene a meeting of the Rajasthan state unit. Mr Khan’s supporters had put up posters outside the party office, congratulating party chief Arvind Kejriwal for offering Mr Khan a plump post in the Delhi Assembly panel. It is no secret that Mr Khan had levelled several allegations on Mr Vishwas after which Mr Khan was suspended from the party.
Mr Vishwas, who was handed over the post of in-charge for party’s Rajasthan unit, has relinquished the duty of overseas fundraising for the party.
Mr Vishwas said that the AAP should go back to basics while preparing for the Rajasthan Assembly polls due next year, indicating that the party had strayed away from its core philosophy while contesting elections in Punjab and Goa.
Mr Vishwas said there will be minimum interference from Delhi leaders and the state unit will be given full freedom to take their own decisions while preparing for the polls. Interestingly, the posters were put up on the day when Mr Vishwas was meeting the party functionaries for preparations to contest elections in Rajasthan. When asked about the posters, Mr Vishwas did not answer the question directly.
Mr Vishwas said he has volunteered to leave the responsibility of being the main overseas fundraiser for AAP, which has been accepted by the party’s National Executive. He denied any rumour of being sacked from the post. The leader added that he was not looking after the fund raising affairs for the last oneand-a-half years, but that his name was there as main fundraiser from overseas for the party. “I never tried to know about the funds, nor do I want to know. Other party colleagues were looking after fund raising affairs. I requested the party leadership to allow me to leave this responsibility so that I could focus more on Rajasthan,” said Mr Vishwas.