Another day, another row hits Kejriwal’s AAP as EC seeks ouster of 20 MLAs

From internal rifts, to friction with the (L-G) and expulsion of party’s veteran leaders to corruption charges against its ministers, the AAP has constantly been embroiled in crisis since its inception in 2012.

Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party is certainly not new to controversies. From internal rifts, to friction with the Lieutenant Governor (L-G), or expulsion of party’s veteran leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, or corruption charges against its ministers, the AAP has almost constantly been embroiled in crisis since its inception in 2012.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal arrives for a special session of the Delhi assembly.(Sonu Mehta/HT FILE PHOTO)

Just as the criticism over its Rajya Sabha picks began to settle down, Delhi’s ruling party on Friday received a jolt with Election Commission of India on Friday recommending disqualification of 20 lawmakers for allegedly holding ‘offices of profit’.

As it has done in the majority of its controversies, the AAP on Friday blamed the BJP government for hatching a conspiracy against its government. “This is not the first time that they (BJP) have tried to derail our government,” said AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.

Apart from enjoying the thumping majority in the Delhi Assembly with 66 seats, the AAP, five years from its inception, is in the Opposition in Punjab Assembly where it also has won four seats in the Lok Sabha. Besides, the party will also have three members in the Rajya Sabha after the term of the three Delhi incumbent ends.

For AAP’s sacked leader Yogendra Yadav, the ‘office of profit’ issue is the result of “arrogance” shown by party chief Arvind Kejriwal.

“On the face of this is nothing more than a technical infringement. This is not a case of corruption. It is foolishness. If you go one step deeper, it is arrogance. It is the consequence of the deep insecurity on the part of chief minister. The parliamentary secretary thing happened soon after Prashant (Bhushan) and I were kicked out. His fear was that MLAs would walk away with us,” Yadav said.

LIST OF CONTROVERSIES

◼ January 2014: MLA Vinod Kumar Binny expelled after first signs of rebellion

◼ April 2015: AAP expelled party’s founding members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan along with Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha. The four later went on to float a separate political outfit

◼ April 2015: Case of abetment to suicide against AAP leaders in the death of Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh who hanged himself at an AAP rally

◼ June 2015: Centre-appointed IPS officer MK Meena got to lead the ACB in place of SS Yadav, who was chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s choice

◼ March 2017: Bawana MLA Ved Parkash joined the BJP after accusing the leadership of running a coterie. Prakash had joined AAP in 2015 after quitting the BJP

◼ April 2017: Senior leader Kumar Vishwas released a video attacking Kejriwal for shielding a corrupt minister, leading to speculation that all is not well within the party. This was followed by MLA Amanatullah Khan accusing senior leader Vishwas of being a BJP agent. Khan was later suspended by the party but not before Kejriwal personally visited Vishwas late night and sorted out things with him

◼ May 2017: Water Minister Kapil Mishra sacked. A day after being sacked, Mishra filed a complaint against Kejriwal at the ACB accusing him of shielding the water mafia. In a press conference, Mishra also accused the party of using money power and women in MCD and Punjab polls

◼ December 2017: Kumar Vishwas launches an anti-Kejriwal campaign after he was not sent to Ray Sabha

◼ January 2018: AAP criticised for sending businessman, Sushil Gupta to Rajya Sabha along with ND Gupta and Sanjay Singh

◼ (Also, Kejriwal is facing a civil defamation suit filed by finance minister Arun Jaitley over the AAP leader’s remarks about discrepancies in Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) accounts during Jaitley’s tenure as the cricket body chief)

A rocky start

The AAP’s first brush with controversy took place in 2014, before the party’s Delhi government assumed office. Party’s founder member Kumar Vishwas and his wife were summoned by Delhi Commission for Woman after a female volunteer from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh had alleged that Vishwas did nothing to dispel the rumours about an alleged relationship between the two. Vishwas had unsuccessfully contested against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in 2014 general elections.

A few weeks after coming to power in Delhi the second time, AAP’s founding-members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were sacked from the party in April 2015 after they questioned Kejriwal’s style of functioning. In June 2015, the then law minister Jitender Singh Tomar resigned over his alleged fake graduation degree. A few months later, Delhi’s food and civil supplies minister Asim Ahmed Khan resigned over corruption charges followed by sacking of Sandeep Kumar, the minister for women and child development, over an alleged explicit CD.

The party’s national ambitions received a setback during Assembly elections in Punjab and Goa in 2017 when it lost both states. In Delhi, meanwhile, AAP was defeated by BJP in the 2017 municipal polls. Winning the Bawana by-poll in August, brought some confidence back in the party.

At the end of last year, an internal rift in the party was thrown in the open with Kumar Vishwas openly calling out the national leadership for drifting away from its vision. Amid the controversy, in the first week of 2018, the party’s decision to send businessman Sushil Gupta, chartered accountant ND Gupta along with Sanjay Singh to the Rajya Sabha invited criticism.

Should the President follow up on the EC’s recommendation, it would mean by-polls on 20 seats in Delhi which would provide an opportunity for the BJP and the Congress to test waters a third time in last five years.