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AAP leader Ashutosh slams Bhushan in open letter

by IBNS 30 Mar 2015, 11:31 am

New Delhi, Mar 30 (IBNS): After the ousting of rebel leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the National Executive of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), senior leader Ashutosh, who joined the party in 2014, in an open letter published on NDTV slammed Prashant Bhusan for his anti-party activities.

He wrote that he was shocked by the behaviour of Bhushan time and again.

"Prashant Bhai. I was really shocked by your behavior. And open defiance. No organisation will survive if a minimum discipline is not adhered to. Tell me, if you had been the National Convener, and a senior member would have replicated your behaviour, how would you have reacted?," he wrote.

"I am always in awe of life, and always remember it takes millions of seconds to create something, but only a few seconds to destroy it. Even if things did not move the way you wanted, was it not possible to sit together after the elections and force everyone to see the light, instead of damaging the party when it was in the battlefield? Prashant Bhai, someday you will realise you were wrong, and then you will regret it, but maybe by then it will be too late," he said in the letter.

He said Prashant Bhushan's father Shanti Bhushan ahead of Delhi polls gave an interview to a business daily and praised Kiran Bedi, and the next day, his praise turned into hate and he described Arvind as worse than  Ajay Maken of the Congress.

"It is true that you contradicted your father. But the damage was done. Ideally, you being the chairman of the national disciplinary committee, should have given instructions to issue a notice for him to be disciplined. It was an anti-party activity. But that did not happen. Please tell me, why I should not conclude that he had your silent consent, as you yourself had openly declared that AAP should lose the elections and should not win more than 22 seats?  And it was you who had discouraged outside volunteers not to come to Delhi for campaigning," wrote Ashutosh.

He wrote: "The initial few months were great. We all were comrades in arms, but during the parliamentary elections, I could sense a tension which grew after the humiliating debacle and turned into an open fissure. I can't exactly pinpoint the date, but it was probably in Tilak Lane, Arvind's residence, when I was jolted out of a slumber in the PAC (Political Affairs Committee) meeting, hearing you shout - 'Let us wind up the party'. I could not figure out what was the provocation. Later, it became almost a rule. Every now and then you would shout - 'Let's wind up the party'."

"After hearing this at least four or five times, you will remember that in one of the meetings,  I lost my cool and shouted back and said, 'This party is not anyone's property that we should wind up the party. This party belongs to thousands of volunteers and when the whole world is looking at us with hope, what kind of future can we present when we can't talk in a sober and smooth manner?'"

Adopting a resolution in a National Council meeting, the AAP on Sunday dropped the senior lawyer, who is also a founding member of the party, from its disciplinary committee.

The AAP also removed its internal Lokpal or ombudsman Admiral Ramdass from the post.

The party released the video of party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal's speech where he said he was back stabbed by his own companions.