The rebellion in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) does not seem to be ending at any time soon. AAP leaders led by Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who was recently removed as the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, have reportedly declared the party’s Punjab unit as autonomous and also dissolved its current organisational structure.
After Khaira’s meeting with senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia did not yield any positive results, Khaira, along with other leaders organised a convention where seven AAP MLAs along with Khaira reportedly passed a resolution proclaiming the autonomy from the Delhi leadership. Khaira has given a week’s time to the leadership in Delhi to further reconsider the decision to remove him from the post of Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly.
AAP Punjab currently has 20 MLAs, out of which 8 MLAs are said to be with Khaira. AAP had summoned all the MLAs to indicate that there is no support for the Khaira faction, but only 11 MLAs are said to have attended the meeting.
The party has termed the disgruntled MLAs as “misguided” and hoped that they will fall in party line in the future to strengthen the party. The state co-president said that holding any convention in the name of the AAP without consulting the party will be illegal.
The convention also protested against the decision to remove Khaira as Leader of Opposition and termed it as “undemocratic way” and rejected Cheema’s appointment. Khaira also slammed AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and senior leader Sisodia for trying to control the state from Delhi. He said, “Punjab cannot be run by remote control.”. Khaira said he does not accept the “dictatorial” approach adopted by the “subedars”.
It is reported that the rebel group, consisting of leaders like Kanwar Sandhu from Kharar, Nazar Singh Mansahia from Mansa, Kulwant Singh Mehal Kalan, Baldev Singh from Jaitu, Pirmal Singh from Bhadaur, Jagdev Singh Kamalu from Maur and Jagtar Singh Jagga from Raipur along with Khaira are likely to travel across the state, starting from the Golden Temple, Amritsar.
