IANS/New Delhi

Dissident leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav had been conspiring against the Aam Aadmi Party for the past one year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said.
In a 44-minute, partly emotional speech at Saturday’s National Executive meeting here, the video of which was released yesterday, Kejriwal made several accusations against the other two co-founders of the party.
He alleged that the two men had made every leadership meeting of the party a cantankerous affair. He had bowed to many of their demands but they never appeared to relent.
“People of Delhi trusted us and voted us to power but our own friends backstabbed us. They called me a cheat, which even the Congress and the BJP did not dare to,” said an emotional Kejriwal.
He said Bhushan and Yadav had worked against the party for the past one year while being within, and had prevented people from funding it ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Bhushan and Yadav were expelled from the National Executive on Saturday after which they called the chief minister an autocrat.
The AAP chief blamed the two men for the mess the party was finding itself in despite winning a smashing victory in the Delhi election in February.
He said both Yadav and Bhushan kept leaking to the media information that harmed the AAP.
“Who benefited from this? I? Yogendra Yadav? Prashant Bhushan? No! Parties like the BJP and the Congress benefited.”
The 46-year-old chief minister accused Bhushan and Yadav of tripping the party when they should have honoured the Delhi mandate.
Claiming that his barely two-month-old government had achieved much more than what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had managed to do in 10 months, Kejriwal lamented that it had all gone waste.
“We should have worked to make Delhi a model city. When we should have been in news for our positive work, we were on the front pages because of all the wrong reasons.”
Amid repeated applause, Kejriwal cited examples to claim that many of the accusations heaped against him by the dissidents were baseless.
Before concluding, he said: “It is for you to understand whether the fight that has been going for the last one-and-a-half months is a fight of principles or ambitions.”
“You have to select them or me,” he said, taking out his resignation as the National Convener and from the Political Affairs Committee, the National Executive and the National Council.
“If you select them, then I will step down from all posts and work as an ordinary party worker.”
Meanwhile, AAP yesterday replaced its Lokpal, retired Admiral L Ramdas, with a team of three ombudsmen, who include two former police officers.
AAP leaders who met at Kejriwal’s residence also set up a new disciplinary committee and a panel to study the party’s state of affairs in various states.
The AAP also decided to lay siege to parliament on April 22 to protest against the land acquisition bill.
Bhushan and Yadav have vowed to approach the Supreme Court and the Election Commission against their sacking.
But the AAP sought to underline yesterday that Ramdas, a former chief of the Indian Navy, was not removed or sacked but his term had ended.
“A new Lokpal committee has been constituted. The tenure of Ramdas was over, so a new Lokpal had to be appointed. It should not be considered he was removed or sacked,” party leader Sanjay Singh told reporters.
Ramdas, however, said he was surprised to hear from the media that the AAP no longer required his services.
“I am disappointed that the leadership of the party did not accord me the courtesy of informing me first before making this decision public. I still await their phone call,” he said in a statement.






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