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Vijaya Pushkarna
Vijaya Pushkarna

AAP CRISIS

Kejriwal in over his head as trouble mounts for AAP

34ArvindKejriwal (File photo) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

As sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra's fast entered the second day on Thursday, he decided to sing.

First before the Delhi Anti-Corruption Bureau where he told them his version of the tanker scam of 2012 and why Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not follow up the case, and second, an old Hindi film song—chup chup khade ho zaroor ko baat hai—meaning if you are standing silent, there certainly is something, even as Kejriwal continued to maintain his silence.

The ACB, meanwhile, said they had asked Mishra to return on Monday to record his statement.

However, Mishra and his allegations are not the only problems possibly making Kejriwal stay quiet. In Punjab where the Aam Aadmi Party is the opposition, there is turmoil in the party ever since Balwant Singh Mann, MP, was appointed head of the state unit. Former state unit convenor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi resigned in protest of the "unfair method used" to appoint the state unit president and called Kejriwal's method "arbitrary and undemocratic".

Former Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who had jointed the AAP a few months before the Punjab elections, quit as the party's chief whip and spokesperson. He had retained his Bholath seat on the AAP ticket. Senior journalist-turned-AAP MLA from Kharar, Kanwar Sandhu has also taken exception to the manner in which the party's state unit was reorganised on May 8. "Instead of strengthening and rejuvenating it, it could end up weakening it," he said.

The way in which Kejriwal has taken on the Election Commission of India over the EVMs has resulted in him digging himself deeper into the slush. BJP MLA Manjit Singh Sirsa has urged Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal to bill the entire cost of holding the special session of the assembly to expose the EVMs to Kejriwal and his party. "That is not the business of the assembly", said Sirsa.

Congress leader Manish Tiwari, meanwhile, wanted to know how an EVM was taken into the assembly given that no MLA is allowed to carry any mobile phone or any other electronic gadget into the house. Tiwari maintained, "What happened in the assembly on Tuesday was unconstitutional".

Undeterred, the AAP held a demonstration in front of the Election Commission office, demanding that the Commission form an all party committee to probe alleged discrepancies in the EVMs during the recent five-state assembly elections. "We will provide the technical expertise" they said.

The Election Commission called for an all party meeting on Friday on the issue of the EVMs.

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Topics : #Arvind Kejriwal | #AAP

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