Split wide open: AAP TN leader quits
Christina Samy, national executive member from Tamil Nadu, who had voted against the resolution moved to expel the two founding leaders from the political affairs committee, resigned from her post on April 1
The bitter infighting within the Aam Aadmi Party reached South as its national executive member from Tamil Nadu resigned from the panel, protesting against the manner in which dissident leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were ousted from the key decisionmaking body.
Christina Samy, party’s national executive member from Tamil Nadu, who had voted against the resolution moved to expel the two founding leaders from the political affairs committee, resigned from her post on April 1.
“I am resigning from my post in the national executive committee as I feel volunteers have been betrayed, the AAP has lost trust in its own founding principles and the constitution and system of lokpal. It has shattered the hopes and dreams of millions of common people,” Ms Samy said in her resignation letter to the party’s national executive. In her letter, she asserted that even if it was to be believed that Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan indulged in anti- party activities, the case should have been referred to the party’s internal lokpal.
“If what Mr Prashant Bhushan and Mr Yogendra Yadav claim are false, why was the system we ourselves created — the internal lokpal — not implemented,” Ms Samy, who is one of the founder members of the party, said in her resignation letter. With Ms Samy’s resignation, the strength of the party’s national council, which had 21 members till March 28, has been reduced to 16. Prior to her resignation, the party had ousted Mr Bhushan, Mr Yadav and Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha from the key decision- making body. The national executive comprises mostly of chief minister and party convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s loyalists now.
A woman rights activist from Tamil Nadu, Ms Samy was also an active state convenor for the party till February. Taking a dig at Mr Kejriwal and his coterie, Ms Samy said, “To the best of my conscience, I had been loyal only to the party and its principles and not to any individuals.” Though not an India Against Corruption member, Ms Samy had joined the movement before the political outfit was floated.
Asserting that the volunteers are the AAP’s backbone, she attacked the party for increasingly turning a deaf ear to the voice of its volunteer base, which had instilled its faith in the party. “The AAP was to be a people- centred party. Initially, the AAP consistently went back to the people for decisions, but today, we have turned a deaf ear to the voice of volunteers, our people. In the course of recent events, these volunteers had remained impartial and were objective when appealing to the national executive committee, only to find the integrity that was built, nurtured and promised to them, now gone,” she added.