New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav wrote an open letter to party volunteers on Wednesday. The letter came a week after the leaders were expelled from the party's Parliamentary Affairs Committee for working against the party.
Here is the full text:
We are constrained to write this letter and release it to public in response to yesterday's press release by four AAP senior colleagues.
- Questions posed to Shanti Bhushan ji are best answered by him, for we have publicly expressed our differences with his views.
- Volunteers need to know the truth about the real issues that have led to the present impasse, and not be misled by distractions.
- National Convenor's post was never an issue; Prashant Bhushan (PB) and Yogendra Yadav (YY) have never raised it in any formal or informal meeting.
- The real differences came to the fore immediately after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on the issue of forming the government again with support from Congress; opposition by PB and YY led to a division.
- This was further accentuated by an orchestrated move to get the entire PAC to take moral responsibility for Lok Sabha results and submit resignation to AK, so that he could reconstitute it as per his will.
- Other incidents that contributed to differences: Communal posters, forged SMS in the name of AVAM, decision not to contest elections in any state other than Delhi.
- PB and YY demanded that candidate selection in Delhi elections should be transparent, follow the party rules, and that there be a credible mechanism to investigate charges against some candidates. This led first to a committee and then a reference to the AAP Lokpal, whose verdict was accepted by YY & PB.
- Despite his strong reservations, PB agreed to defer his other questions till after the Delhi elections
- In the first NE meeting after the Delhi elections, PB and YY made some constructive suggestions: ethics committee, autonomy for states, internal democracy and mechanism for listening to volunteers. Instead of a clear response to these, we received baseless allegations.
- The allegations in the AAP press release are frivolous and unbelievable. Yet some of the basic facts are clarified here again.
- PB was not against party's victory; he was opposed to 'winning at any cost' strategy. We feared that hung assembly or a thin majority could expose us to horse-trading, including by some of our 'suspect' candidates.
- PB had talked about going public IF the party did not agree to a credible mechanism to inquire into allegations against candidates; once the Lokpal review was agreed, he abided by the verdict.
- The allegations about YY planting a story in August has already been refuted by other journalists in that meeting.
- PB dealt with AVAM in his capacity as Chair of Disciplinary Committee, yet allegations of collusion were leveled. YY was attacked by AVAM, and he defended the party when AVAM attacked the party.
- In any case we are open to, and are requesting for, an inquiry by the party's Lokpal into all these allegations.
- We do not wish to carry forward this media slugfest, would like to keep quiet after this letter; appeal to everyone to maintain media silence.
- We wish AK a speedy recovery, and hope that he would find a way that preserves party's unity and its principles.
- We are keen to find a way to resolve this situation and would not allow ego or any posts or positions to come in the way of resolution of the current impasse.
Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav
Comments
0 comment