New Delhi: The AAP on Saturday drew flak and ridicule over the internal turmoil from rival parties which asked it to put its house in order and deliver on the promises made to people of Delhi without wasting the opportunity with its “immature” politics.
Terming the continued tussle within Aam Admi Party(AAP) as a “struggle for power” and “opportunism”, the BJP said Delhi will not see any progress in such a situation and those who were elected to power will have to answer public for the same.
Congress said the “laboratory of AAP experiment is on fire” and accused AAP Chief and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of demeaning his party and the political class.
Taking a dig at AAP, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said it was becoming more like “older parties”.
The CPI(M) termed the ongoing tussle in AAP as an internal affair of the party but said the rift should not affect the welfare of the people of Delhi who had voted the party to power.
Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that AAP should fulfil the promises it had made to the public during Delhi assembly polls and that people of the city had a lot of expectations when they voted for this government. “With a lot of expectation and high hopes, people of Delhi had chosen the government. The promises which AAP and its leaders have made with public, they must fulfil them,” Jaitley told reporters in Varanasi. “They should not let this historical opportunity go waste just because of their immature politics.”
Nalin Kohli, BJP’s national spokesperson, said the turmoil in AAP has to do with fight for power. “It is a fight of opportunism,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it is the people of Delhi who are suffering the most due to the AAP’s internal turmoil. “First AAP should set its house in order and start delivering in Delhi. That is our concern, Delhi citizens’ concern and Delhi community’s concern. And this kind of laundering goes on in open spectacle every day… then I think Delhi is the biggest sufferer,” Singhvi said, adding the allegations and counter allegations by rival factions in AAP are “extremely serious”. Another Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said, “I understand that AAP is an experiment. But right now it so happens that the laboratory is on fire. That’s all.” “The ongoing tussle is the internal affair of the party and they must resolve it so that the people of Delhi don’t have to suffer,” CPI(M) politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury told reporters in Jammu.
Earlier in the day, AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal made it clear to the National Council it was either him or Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav who can stay in the party, following which the duo was expelled from the National Executive.
In his hour-long address to the National Council, Kejriwal slammed Bhushan and Yadav accusing them of trying to ensure AAP’s defeat in Delhi assembly polls. The Delhi Chief Minister said he was pained over what was happening in the party and preferred to stay away from it.
“If the party decides, I will quit and relinquish all the posts. Now it is upto to you (National Council) to decide whether you want me or them,” a senior leader quoted Kejriwal as saying. Kejriwal said when one group was working for the party’s victory another was “scheming for its defeat.”
“Two groups of AAP were working in the Delhi election. One was working for the party’s victory while other was working for the party’s defeat. When the whole party was working towards victory in the polls, the other group was scheming for its defeat,” the party leader quoted Kejriwal.
The Delhi Chief Minister asked the NC to decide on his offer which was vehemently opposed by his supporters. (PTI) (Related report on P-5)
