Autonomy for Punjab unit was sought from CM Kejriwal, claims AAP MLA

The state and national unit of the party should function in an autonomous manner, Punjab AAP MLA Kanwar Sandhu said on Saturday, adding that he had written a letter to the leadership in this regard in December last year.

The remark comes a day after party’s Punjab president Bhagwant Mann and its co-president Aman Arora resigned from their posts after AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal apologised to SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia for accusing him of being involved in drugs trade, reports PTI.

Kejriwal’s move had landed the state leadership in a crisis on Friday and a majority of its leaders, including MLAs, had contemplated breaking away and forming a separate unit.

Sandhu also said that he had been seeking autonomy for the Punjab unit for the past three months and had shared the letter with the state’s leaders, including Sangrur MP Mann.

“In the real sense, an autonomy should be full autonomy which means that the state unit should have its own constitution, membership, structure, funding and manifestoes. We will also have our own president and own working committee,” he said.

The MLA had written to Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.

The central point of this letter is that the national unit of the party and state units function in an autonomous manner, he said.