AAP expels Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and two others from party

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has finally expelled four rebel leaders, Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha, for indulging in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities.

The four were expelled on Monday night from the party after the national disciplinary committee (NDC) found the responses to the showcause notices by the rebel leaders as unsatisfactory.

"The committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Mr Yogendra Yadav, Mr Prashant Bhushan and Mr Anand Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities," the party said in a statement.

The NDC held a six-hour-long meeting after receiving the replies from Yadav, Bhushan and Anand Kumar

"The four has been expelled from the party for anti-party activities. There was a six-hourlong meeting after which this decision was taken," party spokesperson Deepak Bajpai told MAIL TODAY.

The decision puts an end to the month-long saga which saw Yadav, Bhushan and two others launching Swaraj Samwad raising speculations that the dissidents were planning to start a separate political party.

Indiscipline

Sources said that the NDC had already extended the deadline for submitting their responses by one day, till 3 pm on April 20, but still Ajit Jha did not reply.

"The committee received the responses of Mr Yadav, Mr Bhushan and Kumar while Mr. Jha failed to furnish his response within the prescribed time," the party statement said. "The committee carefully considered responses furnished by Mr Yogendra Yadav, Mr Prashant Bhushan and Mr. Anand Kumar and found them unsatisfactory," the party said.

The NDC said the four leaders have violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of Party's Constitution. "After examining the evidence put before it, the Committee is of unanimous view that Mr. Ajit Jha is also guilty of gross indiscipline and indulging into antiparty activities. The Committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party," it said.

Retaliation

Earlier in the day, hitting back at the Aam Aadmi Party leadership, Bhushan and Yadav had replied to the show-cause notices sent to them, rebutting the charges made against them. In his reply Yadav has accused the party of indulging in gross violations of the party's constitution while Bhushan has accused NDC members Pankaj Gupta and Ashish Khetan of accepting donations from dubious companies and writing a paid-news story, respectively.

Questioning the constitution of NDC, Bhushan said both Gupta and Khetan had levelled allegations against him and in such a scenario they could not be judges. Referring to the case of accepting donation of Rs 2 crore, Bhushan questioned the removal of Admiral (retired) Ramdas as the party's Lokpal.

"You also know that there have been serious charges against you… These included the acceptance of donations of Rs 2 crore from shell companies, without taking the approval of the PAC as required by the party's rules, as well as of stalling and not executing the decisions of the NDC which I was heading and of which you were a member. But instead of referring those serious allegations against you to the Lokpal as required by the party constitution, you have now removed Admiral Ramdas," Bhushan said in his response to the notice.

On allegations that he organised Swaraj Samvaad convention, in which floating a new party was talked about, Bhushan quoted the party's constitution saying: "Members, other than office bearers shall be free to express their opinion within and outside the party, unless there is a specific direction to the contrary by the party for a specific period. Mere expression of a difference of opinion will not be considered as violation of the Code of Conduct unless it violates the objectives of the party."

Targeting Arvind Kejriwal, rebel leader Yadav asked why no action was being taken against the Delhi chief minister for his alleged statement that he would form a new party with 67 MLAs.

"As is well known, television channels have reported a telephone conversation of our National Convener where he is declaring his intent to form a new party with his 67 MLAs in case he cannot get rid of people like me. If our discussing a possibility is indiscipline, surely his declaration is a bigger indiscipline, which your "committee" might wish to look into," Yadav said.

Video footage

Responding to the party's charge of presenting the facts of National Council in a distorted manner, Yadav challenged the party to release the unedited footage of the video.

"If you or anyone has any doubt about what happened inside the NC meeting, why don't you order a public release of the unedited video tapes from both the cameras?" he said.

Yadav and Bhushan defended their statement which drew parallel with party's move to curb dissidence as Stalinist purges.

"The kangaroo trials, expulsions, witchhunts, character assassination, rumour campaigns and emotional theatre to justify such macabre acts - all this is so true of the Stalinist regime. I have always maintained that there is one difference - there is no Siberia for exile here!" Yadav said.

AAP leader Ashutosh denied the charges and said that even the Ministry of Home Affairs had given a clean chit to the donations of AAP.

"Members do have a right of freedom of expression, but no organisation will allow a scenario when its volunteers are asked to respond to a questionnaire which talks about forming a new political party," he said.

(In association with Mail Today Bureau)