New Delhi:
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and national executive member Mayank Gandhi has strongly objected to the way senior PAC leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were removed from the PAC.
In an aggressive blog, Gandhi said he decided to go by his conscious and break the National Executive diktat of not speaking to anyone outside about what transpired in Wednesday's meeting.
Describing himself as a disciplined soldier of the party, Mayank Gandhi said that the removal of both Yadav and Bhushan from the PAC went against the volunteer spirit of the AAP, and was downright dishonest in both thinking as well as in action.
"My presence in the National Executive is only as a representative of the volunteers. And I would be dishonest to accept the gag order. The volunteers cannot be removed from the equation; they are the source of the party. Rather than get information from selective leaks and stray statements, I have decided to give some factual details of the meeting in the public domain," Gandhi said in his blog.
He said that he was warned about disciplinary action being taken against him if he revealed anything about Wednesday's national executive meeting.
He said, "My first allegiance is to the higher truth."
Gandhi said that during the Delhi campaign, Prashant Bhushan had threatened multiple times that he will hold press conference against the party, because of his concerns on candidate selection, but the threat was staved off till the elections.
"It was alleged that Yogendra Yadav was conspiring against Arvind and some evidences were produced. There were also operational irreconcilable differences and trust deficit between AK, PB and YY," he added.
He confirmed that Kejriwal had said that he would not be able to work as convenor as long as both Bhushan and Yadav were part of the PAC.
He said that Yadav had said that he understood that Kejriwal did not want them in PAC, and had suggested that while both should not be singled out, two formulas could be considered to resolve existing differences.
That the PAC be reconstituted and new PAC members be elected through voting. PB and YY will not put their candidature.
That PAC continues to function in the present form and YY and PB would not attend any of the meetings.
Gandhi said that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others conferred with the Delhi team of Ashish Khetan, Asutosh, Dilip Pandey and others, and they proposed a resolution that Yadav and Bhushan be removed from the PAC.
This, Gandhi said, was seconded by Sanjay Singh.
Gandhi said that he abstained from the voting process citing two contrary reasons
1. Arvind needs a smooth working in the PAC. So, I agreed that PB and YY may be out of PAC and take some alternate important roles.
2. I was taken aback by the resolution of removing them publicly, especially as they themselves were willing to leave. Also, this decision to sack them was against the overwhelming sentiments of volunteers from all over the world.
"So, while I agreed that they can step down from the PAC, the manner and intention behind the resolution was not acceptable. Hence, the decision to abstain," Gandhi said.
"This is not a revolt, nor is this some publicity ploy. I will not go to the press. There may be some repercussions overt and covert against me. So be it," added Gandhi.
