AAP in turmoil as Vishwas threatens to quit

The fissure in the AAP widened today with senior party leader Kumar Vishwas threatening to quit over the attacks on him by a “coterie” surrounding Arvind Kejriwal.

The party has, meanwhile, sent senior leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh to pacify Vishwas. Late in the night, Kejriwal and Sisodia visited Vishwas’ residence in Ghaziabad.

Kejriwal later took Vishwas to the former’s official residence at Civil Lines.

The AAP had earlier fielded Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to contain the damage who retaliated against Vishwas saying people were aware that his comments would help a “particular party.”

The flurry of developments, a day after Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan resigned from the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) over a spat with Vishwas, plunged the poll-battered party into turmoil, almost reminiscent of the 2015 bitter public spat involving then AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.

Amid murmurs that he wants to head the party, poet-turned-politician Vishwas, earlier in the day, said he harboured no ambitions to become chief minister, deputy chief minister or AAP national convener.

Several MLAs too are in favour of a greater role for Vishwas in the AAP after the party’s poor show in the Punjab Assembly and MCD polls. They also expressed their displeasure over the “coterie” surrounding Kejriwal, as claimed by Vishwas, but pledged their loyalty towards the Aam Aadmi Party chief.

“I have conveyed this to Arvind, Manish (Sisodia) and I reiterate it today that I do not want to become chief minister, deputy chief minister or AAP’s national convener. I do not want to join any political party or Swaraj India (political party founded by expelled AAP leader Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan). I do not know what you want to do, but I do not want to do this,” Vishwas told reporters outside his Ghaziabad residence as he turned emotional.

The AAP leader was particularly upset with Khan who had alleged on Sunday that the former was plotting a coup against Kejriwal and that he was an “RSS-BJP agent.”

“Had Amanatullah Khan said anything like this against Arvind or Manish, he would have been shown the door in 10 minutes,” Vishwas said, adding that he, along with Kejriwal and Sisodia had dreamt of an anti—corruption movement, which later became a political party.

He said Khan was merely a “mask” behind the “coterie” hatching conspiracies against him.

“A lot of tarnishing of image will take place. Let me tell those hatching conspiracies that I will not let this happen. I will take a decision in a day,” Vishwas said.

Kejriwal had sought to quell rumours of a rift with Vishwas by referring to him as his “younger brother“.