AAP stares at crisis as war of words erupts between Vishwas and Sisodia

I don’t want to become the CM, deputy CM, convener of a party and neither do I want to join any other party .... I didn’t come to do this.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Tuesday accused a section of party colleagues of conspiring against him and said he will “take a decision tonight”, potentially hinting at quitting amid raging dissension in Delhi’s ruling party.

Within hours of the announcement, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia criticised Vishwas for speaking “only to the media”, indicating the leadership’s disapproval of the poet-turned-politician’s public statements.

Vishwas sparked the crisis in the AAP after he challenged the party’s stand blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the defeat in the recently-held municipal polls.

A few days later, another AAP leader Amanatullah Khan — the Okhla legislator — described Vishwas as an “RSS agent” and accused him of conspiring to take control of the party, led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

In a late night development, Kejriwal and Sisodia reached Vishwas’s residence in Vasundhara where senior leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh were already holding a meeting with him. They immediately left for the CM’s residence in Civil Lines. “Vishwas is an integral part of the party. He is angry but will come around. We are going to my place to have tea,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal is struggling to keep the party together after a series of election setbacks, including the drubbing in Punjab and the municipal polls.

On Tuesday, a teary-eyed Vishwas said Amanatullah Khan was just a “mask” used by some AAP leaders to attack him.

“And then I realised this is not being said by an MLA (Khan)...he is only a mask and someone else is speaking behind him,” Vishwas said.

Vishwas also blamed a “coterie” within the AAP for its election reverses but did not elaborate.

Though Vishwas said he will not join “any other party”, he kept his options open for leaving the AAP.

“I don’t want to become the chief minister, deputy chief minister, convener of a party and neither do I want to join any other party .... I didn’t come to do this. I will take a decision tonight .... ”

An hour later, Sisodia criticised Vishwas for speaking to the media rather than raising his concerns in the party forum.

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