AAP and controversies: A marriage made in heaven

When the AAP announced the list of candidates it would nominate to Rajya Sabha, Kumar Vishwas minced no words to criticise AAP's top brass.

Ever since its inception, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been embroiled in controversies. From internal rifts to the expulsion of some of its founding members, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has remained in the headlines and of late it is more in news for wrong reasons than right.

From a party which came into existence in 2012 when anti-corruption crusaders, who were part of Anna Hazare's movement, joined hands, it must be said that AAP has made significant progress politically. The mandate it got in Delhi Assembly elections was a testimony to the fact that people actually saw AAP as a political alternative to the BJP and the Congress. Whether the AAP has lived up to expectations or not is a different matter altogether, what is pertinent here is that Kejriwal really has had a hard time keeping his flock together.

In January 2014, legislator Vinod Kumar Binny was throw out of the party for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities. Then in April 2015, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who were prominent leaders of the party, were shown the door for expressing unhappiness over the way the party was being run. This brought a lot of negative publicity to AAP and its convener Arvind Kejriwal as the expelled duo were not only the founding members of the party but also eminent personalities in their own right.

In June 2015, AAP again locked horns with the Centre over the appointment of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB)'s chief.

In 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.

Last year, Kejriwal sacked Delhi Water Resources minister Kapil Mishra, after which the latter launched a scathing attack on AAP. Mishra claimed that he had witnessed Kejriwal taking Rs 2 crores in cash from another Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain.

When the AAP announced the list of candidates it would nominate to Rajya Sabha, Kumar Vishwas minced no words to criticise AAP's top brass.

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 recommending disqualification of 20 lawmakers for allegedly holding 'offices of profit'.

AAP was quick to hit out at the EC, and said that it was acting at the behest of BJP-led Central government.

"There was no hearing, we were not given a chance to explain our stand. We appeal to the President to hear our view too, MLAs will meet President also," Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday alleged the Chief Election Commissioner AK Jyoti 'working for his boss PM Modi', and he asserted that in many instances members holding the office of profit were never disqualified.

OneIndia News