Shazia Ilmi leaves after announcing her resignation from the Aam Aadmi Party at the Press Club of India in New Delhi yesterday.


Agencies/New Delhi


India’s upstart anti-corruption party suffered a blow yesterday when two of their leaders quit after accusing their high-profile chief of impulsive decision-making.
Shazia Ilmi and G R Gopinath of the Aam Aadmi Party said they did not approve of the “sensationalism” agenda followed by the fledgling party’s leader Arvind Kejriwal.  
They were referring to Kejriwal’s recent decision of choosing to remain behind bars rather than pay bail of Rs10,000 ($170) in a defamation case.
“One strongly believes that instead of wasting our collective energy in this bail-jail imbroglio, Arvind should actually be spending time with cadres,” Ilmi, one of the founder members of the party, said in her resignation letter.
“This is a difficult decision for me but it is triggered by the lack of inner-party democracy, specially from a party that constantly talks of Swaraj,” she said.
In a scathing attack on Kejriwal, Ilmi said he had “shot the messenger.”
“Arvind has shot the messenger. For the last four years, I fought like an obedient soldier. However, now I have been systematically marginalised because I offered a voice of dissent and constructive criticism,” she said.
She said Kejriwal failed to follow the concept of Swaraj personally, and accused the party of being run by a “crony clique” though she refused to take any names.
“We fight against cronyism but we have a crony clique who run the party and take impulsive decisions which we learn about later. We cannot follow the principles of Swaraj within our own party,” she said.
“When a brilliant person like Arvind who espoused the concept of Swaraj, of collective decision making, is unable to follow it personally within the party, then doesn’t it become incumbent to point out the same?”
Ilmi, however, added she had the “greatest respect” for Kejriwal and the selfless volunteers who were the “backbone of the party.”
She also clarified that her resignation from the party was not because she was asked to contest the election from Ghaziabad, from where she lost.
“I deny whisper campaigns that my resignation has to do with being fielded from Ghaziabad,” she said.
Kejriwal has been branded a “drama queen” by opponents for choosing to go to jail rather than pay bail during a court hearing on Wednesday. He will remain behind bars till June 6.
The self-styled anti-corruption campaigner served a 49-day stint as Delhi chief minister before quitting, after his party made a spectacular debut in state elections last December.
He has since admitted that his decision to quit in a row over an anti-corruption bill was a mistake.
His party won only four seats in the recent general election, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won by a landslide.
Gopinath, one of the many professionals who joined AAP after it successfully tapped into growing anger among public over widespread corruption, also slammed Kejriwal’s decision to remain in jail.
“This kind of agitation can’t be equated with activism,” Gopinath, who founded a low-cost airline, told the NDTV news network.
“It’s an individual defamation case. You must have patience, if you accuse someone of corruption you have to prove it in court.”
The resignations will have a bearing on the long-term future of the party which political analysts say risks running out of steam.
Another high-profile members of the party, Ashutosh, has hinted he would seek greener pastures in light of AAP’s poll debacle.
“Time to think, to introspect, to plan, to move. Life does not stop, it continues,” he tweeted earlier in the week.
The BJP termed the development a result of “arrogance” of Kejriwal and his close associates.
“This had to happen. This party is being run by three-four people who are arrogant just like their leader (Kejriwal). I agree with Ilmi that there is no democracy in the party,” Delhi BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi said.
“This is the beginning of the breaking up of the party,” he added.
The Congress also took potshots at Kejriwal and called the AAP a “private limited firm” of the leader.
“The allegation levelled by Shazia Ilmi adds credence to the allegation of the Congress against the party. The allegation has come true now,” Delhi Congress spokesman Mukesh Sharma said.