AAP Punjab crisis: 86 office-bearers of Amritsar zone resign citing 'dictatorial behaviour'

There is more trouble for AAP in Punjab after 86 office-bearers of the Amritsar zone resigned from the party’s primary membership on Monday, citing ‘dictatorial behaviour’ by party observers from outside Punjab. The Times of India reported former Amritsar zone in-charge Gurinder Singh Bajwa saying: “It was a difficult decision, but we decided to resign en masse from the primary membership of AAP."

Bajwa claimed that 80% of AAP’s Amritsar zone members had resigned. When asked if he’d join Navjot Singh Sidhu’s Awaaz-e-Punjab, Bajwa replied, "This is a front of honest persons, and we want such publicly acceptable persons to come on a single platform for the betterment of Punjab. We would want Chhotepur to hold meeting with Sidhu after completion of his statewide march."  Bajwa claimed the dissatisfaction stemmed from AAP giving party tickets to people who "never demonstrated on roads, pasted posters or raised slogans."

However, AAP’s Amritsar spokesperson Gurbhej Singh alleged that those opposing Delhi’s team’s decision were "ticket-seekers and their dream was to become MLAs by riding on AAP’s popularity among Punjabis".

AAP’s Punjab trouble

After AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat shot off a letter to Arvind Kejriwal over alleged "exploitation of women" by a few partymen in return for tickets, the party said the leaders against whom the lawmaker has made the accusations will sue him over his remarks.

Senior AAP leader and party's Punjab unit in-charge Sanjay Singh, at a press conference, also dared Sehrawat to come up with proof and substantiate the charges levelled against party leaders. The Bijwasan MLA had written a letter to Arvind Kejriwal, criticising party leader Ashutosh's stand on the CD scandal involving sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar and alleged that a "coterie" was damaging the party.

Sehrawat had also hit out at AAP's Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey, questioning his conduct, and said there were "disturbing" reports from Punjab. Singh said stern action would be taken against Sehrawat after Chief Minister and AAP convener Avind Kejriwal returns to Delhi from the Vatican. AAP's Delhi unit convener, who also addressed the press conference, hit back at Sehrawat, saying the party leaders will sue him in individual capacity. AAP MLA Bijwasan Colonel Devinder Sehrawat claimed he had received reports about women being exploited in Punjab with promises of election tickets, reported the Indian Express. However, his allegations were denied by senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh: “The allegations are so absurd and baseless that we do not even want to respond to them. He has to get proof before talking like that.”

Speaking to Indian Express, Sehrawat said: “I was perturbed by it all. There were talks about these things, there was spoken information and there was information in the public domain and on social media. This is a sensitive matter and it is about things that are exploitative in nature. In such a scenario, it’s not possible to get evidence right away. But I was alarmed and I have done my duty by pointing it out, whether or not anybody finds it palatable.”

Earlier, party’s Punjab convenor, Sucha Singh Chhotepur, was sacked from his post after allegations that he was seeking bribes for party tickets. He was replaced by Gurpreet Ghuggi whose appointment was mocked by Congress by saying that "AAP was replacing governance with stand-up comedy". AAP’s party campaign, going into 2017, is suddenly in disarray.

Bhagwant Mann, who many thought would be the face of AAP in the elections, was in trouble for recording a video which revealed the security detail at the Parliament. He was also in the news for threatening journalists after arriving four hours late for a rally. Mann, when confronted by the media for the reason behind the delay in reaching the rally venue at Bassi Pathana, got infuriated. Mann shot back to say, "we don't need any media reporting of AAP's functions."