New Delhi: The internal strife plaguing the Aam Aadmi Party widened on Tuesday with the party’s top leadership launching a scathing attack on Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, accusing them of working towards the party’s defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections.

Breaking silence for the first time ever since the rift became public, top four leaders including deputy CM Manish Sisodia, transport minister Gopal Rai, AAP’s general secretary Pankaj Gupta and Sanjay Singh issued a joint statement defending the party’s decision to “relieve” the duo from the highest decision making body, Political Affairs Committee.



Mr Yadav rebutted the accusations made by the party’s top brass charging it of forcing the MLAs to sign papers against him and Mr Bhushan. Both he and Mr Bhushan welcomed the statement saying, “It is good that the things which were being said about till so far have been said by the frontline leaders and the country would know the ‘whole truth’ very soon,” they said.

The party leadership said that it was compelled to divulge the reasons for the removal of the two leaders from the PAC to counter the public statements being made by the duo. Along with party patron Shanti Bhushan, the AAP leadership said that at the time when the party functionaries were “sweating out” to ensure party’s win in the Delhi polls, Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan were “trying their best” to ensure the contrary.

“The trio, especially Prashant Bhushan called volunteers from other states and discouraged them from campaigning for the party. He told then that he will not be campaigning and they also shouldn’t campaign. It is necessary for the party to lose. It is only then Arvind (Kejriwal) will get some sense,” the four leaders charged.

They added, “People who wanted to donate for the party were stopped from doing so by Prashant Bhushan.”

Mr Rai said, “Last week, the National Executive had decided to relieve the two leaders of their responsibilities in the PAC. The reasons were not made public as the party felt that it will hurt their image.”