Dissents grows in AAP as Manish Sisodia slams Yogendra Yadav
The infighting in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is grappling with its lacklustre showing in the 2014 general elections, has now apparently reached the top leadership.
After AAP leader Yogendra Yadav resigned from the party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) last Saturday, senior leader Manish Sisodia reportedly questioned his motives and strategies that did not help the party in the general elections.
Yadav, a native of Haryana, resigned from the party's top decision-making body following a tiff with state convener Naveen Jaihind, who resigned from the 18-month-old rookie party's national executive body on the same day.
In a letter sent to Yadav, Sisodia is said to have reprimanded him for taking his fight with Jaihind in public domain and calling party chief Arvind Kejriwal a "supremo".
"You have alleged that the party did not listen to the political affairs committee. But then the PAC also did not want you to contest from Gurgaon.
"In that scenario Arvind supported you. But when Arvind did not support you in you fight against Navin Jaihind, you call him supremo," said the letter dated Thursday.
HT has a copy of the letter, but could not confirm its veracity immediately as both Sisodia and Yadav could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
There is a big talk in the AAP circles that Sisodia's letter was in response to the one written by Yadav clarifying why he had to quit the PAC.
In the fresh letter, Yadav, who contested and lost the Gurgaon seat, was also criticised for his incorrect survey on Haryana.
While the AAP hoped to bag about 23% of the vote share in the state — which is also home to former Delhi CM kejriwal — it managed to get just 3% of the votes and failed to make an impression all the 10 constituencies.
The letter also blames Yadav for pushing Kejriwal to field over 400 candidates against his wish.
The AAP, despite its stellar assembly election debut in Delhi last year, managed to win just four seats — all in Punjab — in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Following the debacle in the general elections, two of the AAP's prominent faces — Shazia Ilmi and GR Gopinath (who launched India's first low-cost carrier) — had recently quit the party in signs of disintegration.
After AAP leader Yogendra Yadav resigned from the party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) last Saturday, senior leader Manish Sisodia reportedly questioned his motives and strategies that did not help the party in the general elections.
Yadav, a native of Haryana, resigned from the party's top decision-making body following a tiff with state convener Naveen Jaihind, who resigned from the 18-month-old rookie party's national executive body on the same day.
In a letter sent to Yadav, Sisodia is said to have reprimanded him for taking his fight with Jaihind in public domain and calling party chief Arvind Kejriwal a "supremo".
"You have alleged that the party did not listen to the political affairs committee. But then the PAC also did not want you to contest from Gurgaon.
"In that scenario Arvind supported you. But when Arvind did not support you in you fight against Navin Jaihind, you call him supremo," said the letter dated Thursday.
HT has a copy of the letter, but could not confirm its veracity immediately as both Sisodia and Yadav could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
There is a big talk in the AAP circles that Sisodia's letter was in response to the one written by Yadav clarifying why he had to quit the PAC.
In the fresh letter, Yadav, who contested and lost the Gurgaon seat, was also criticised for his incorrect survey on Haryana.
While the AAP hoped to bag about 23% of the vote share in the state — which is also home to former Delhi CM kejriwal — it managed to get just 3% of the votes and failed to make an impression all the 10 constituencies.
The letter also blames Yadav for pushing Kejriwal to field over 400 candidates against his wish.
The AAP, despite its stellar assembly election debut in Delhi last year, managed to win just four seats — all in Punjab — in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Following the debacle in the general elections, two of the AAP's prominent faces — Shazia Ilmi and GR Gopinath (who launched India's first low-cost carrier) — had recently quit the party in signs of disintegration.
