Damania seeks action against Mayank Gandhi

Fissures in Aam Aadmi Party appeared to have widened on Friday, with its Maharashtra unit leader Anjali Damania seeking disciplinary action against national executive member Mayank Gandhi, who in a blog post had claimed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal insisted on the ouster of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the party’s political affairs committee.

Damania also told The Indian Express that days before the AAP National executive meet, Gandhi himself approached AAP convenor Kejriwal offering to move the resolution against Yadav and Bhushan. “I was surprised that after offering to move the motion against the two, Gandhi refrained from voting and then openly blogged against the party. There has to be disciplinary action against him,” said Damania.

Both Damania and Gandhi are AAP leaders from Maharashtra.

Damania also raised questions about how despite Yogendra Yadav’s rhetoric of one-person, one-post, Maharashtra convenor Subhash Ware and Tamil Nadu convener Christina Samy were allowed to vote in the national executive meet. Samy and Ware were among the eight who voted in favour of Yadav and Bhushan staying on in the party’s top decision making body, while Gandhi refrained from voting. The duo were ousted with 11 votes against them during the AAP’s national executive meet on March 4.

Gandhi, however, denied that he had told Kejriwal that he would to move a motion against Yadav and Bhushan. “This is incorrect. I was in favour of Prashant and Yogendra stepping down from PAC and taking up a separate important role and responsibility. But, I was against the manner in which they were removed… That is the reason I abstained from voting,” said Gandhi, who in his blog addressed to party volunteers voiced his decision to violate the party’s gag order. He also said that Kejriwal had said they he would not be able to work as AAP convenor if Yadav and Bhushan continued to be part of the PAC.

In the blog post on Thursday, Gandhi claimed: “On 26th February night, when members of the National Executive went to meet him, Arvind conveyed that he will not be able to work as convenor, if these two members (Yadav, Bhushan) were part of the PAC. That was the background of the National Executive on 4th March.”

Gandhi also said the removal of the two leaders “was against the overwhelming sentiments of volunteers from all over the world”.
Damania too said she believed that Bhushan has selflessly worked in the interest of the party, but also cited the repeated media leaks by other “so-called leaders”. “I am absolutely shocked at how these so-called leaders have conducted themselves. There is a grievance redressal system within the party and an internal Lokpal which they could have approached. Time and again they have approached the media which is unacceptable,” said Damania.

Also, Damania’s party colleague and former Maharashtra AAP secretary Preeti Sharma Menon and Navi Mumbai-based member S V Subramanium have recently sent separate letters to AAP national general secretary Pankaj Gupta against Ware holding dual posts. Ware, who was appointed as the Maharashtra convenor in December, said he had already sought a clarification on the issue from Gupta. “I had asked the national general secretary whether it would be right for me to continue to be part of these meeting now. However, I was told that under the party’s Mission Vistaar my position as the state convener is only temporary,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking to The Indian Express, Bhushan said the “manner of the decision has created a perception among volunteers that the party is not united”.

But, Kejriwal, admitted to a naturopathy institute in Bangalore on Thursday, told Headlines Today: “I am really pained by the developments, I am only interested in Delhi.”

Source:: Indian Express