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247 members voted to remove Yadav, Bhushan: AAP

by IBNS 28 Mar 2015, 11:15 am

#Aam Aadmi Party # Yogendra Yadav # Prashant Bhushan # Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi, Mar 28 (IBNS): After ousting rebel leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the National Executive adopting a resolution in a National Council meeting that witnessed extreme acrimony and allegations flying thick between two warring sides, the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday defended its stand saying 247 votes were in the favour of the resolution.

"A proposal to remove Yogendra yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha from NE was presented in National Council of AAP. There was voting held in the National Council for removal of the four people from the National Executive," The AAP said in a statement.
 
"247 votes in favor of the resolution, 8 against it, 2 gave dissent notes and 54 either walked out or abstained from voting," it added.
 
AAP leader Sanjay Singh also refuted Yadav's claim of violence during the meeting and said, "There was no violence in the meeting."
 
The party's move signalled the possible expulsion of the two founding members from the party as well.
 
Many of the party leaders supporting  Yadav and Bhushan alleged that supporters of party chief  Arvind Kejriwal dragged them out from the meeting and also used violence against them.
 
"It was scripted. It was a murder of democracy," Yadav said after the meeting.
 
 "There was bogus voting in the meeting. Many of the National Council members who supported us were injured," he said.
 
"Whatever Arvind Kejriwal was heard saying in a sting yesterday was played out in the entirety in today's meeting," said Bhushan. "Goons were brought to the meeting. Our supporters were beaten up inside the meeting. The meeting was a total farce," he added.
 
Speaking on behalf of the official camp, senior leader Asutosh said, "I admit the image of the party has been dented.(but) governance of Delhi has not been impacted."
 
"If Bhushan and Yadav had knocked on Kejriwal's door instead of seeking appointment through media, maybe he would have met them. Did they try?," he said.
 
Asutosh informed that there  was a vote through a show of hands, and only eight members backed the rebel duo.
 
"We have the signatures of 247 people out of 311 members present, who voted in favour of dropping them from National Executive," he said.
 
Denying the charge of the rebel camp, Asutosh said there was no  violence against the supporters of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, nor were there bouncers in the meeting.
 
 Kejriwal, who is also Delhi chief minister, did not vote but left after making an emotional speech.
 
Ahead of the meeting, Yadav sat on dharna outside the venue for around 20 minutes alleging that a section of the National Council members opposed to Arvind Kejriwal camp were not being allowed inside the meeting.
 
Hours before the meeting, Yadav made public a letter, written by AAP's internal Lokpal Ramdas to the party leadership, in which the former Navy Chief expressed surprise over the party asking him not to attend the meet to "avoid confrontation".
 
In the letter, Ramdas cited the SMS he received from AAP general secretary Pankaj Gupta, in which several reasons were stated by the party for its decision to ask him to skip the meeting.
 
A large number of AAP volunteers from both camps gathered  at the venue of the meeting at Calista resort in Kapahsera border and engaged in incessant sloganeering against each other.
 
However, Yadav and Bhushan, protesting against "lack of internal democracy" in the party, were in the minority as a huge number of  AAP workers blocked roads outside the meeting venue raising slogans and holding up placards in support of  party chief Arvind Kejriwal. 
 
 Kejriwal has reportedly made it clear that he can't work with Yadav and  Bhushan anymore. 
 
Yadav and Bhushan claim that they are being forced out of AAP by party  for demanding more transparency and internal democracy. 
 
An imminent split in the party looked almost certain on Friday  after a series of press conferences held by rival camps led by rebel leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan on one side and party chief Arvind Kejriwal on the other.
 
Yadav and Bhushan fired the salvo first calling Kejriwal a 'dictator surrounded by yest men.' Then Kejriwal camp hit back accusing the rebel duo of taking the party to a strait.
 
In an audio record produced by the rebel camp Kejriwal was heard purportedly using expletives against Yadav and Bhushan and even threatening to form a new party.
 
Reacting to this, Bhushan said, "I did not know Kejriwal has this much poison in his mind for me and Yogendra Yadav. This party was not supposed to be one man party."
 
However, the Kejriwal camp claimed that "private" conversations of leaders were being "recorded" for the past nine months to "blackmail" the leadership.
 
Heavy contingents of police and RAF have been deployed in the vicinity of the resort.

 

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