Two MPs off to rebel rally, state AAP heading for split
Tuesday, 25/08/2015
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PATIALA: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is headed for a split in Punjab, as two of its four MPs, Harinder Singh Khalsa and Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, are going to skip its Rakhar Puniya conference at Baba Bakala for a volunteer meet organised by sacked Amritsar leader Dr Daljit Singh.
Party’s state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur had threatened to throw out whoever attends the parallel rally at Baba Bakala. Even when the threat is backed by the Delhi-based leadership, Dr Gandhi and Khalsa have decided to defy him. They told HT they were going to the doctor’s event and there was no stopping them.
“If the party can throw out leaders such as Dr Daljit Singh, then I have no regret in saying that it should be thrown out of Punjab,” said Harinder Khalsa. “Dr Daljit Singh and his volunteers are the real AAP in Punjab, not Akali turncoats such as Chhotepur,” said Khalsa, who himself was Akali MP from Bathinda from 1996 to 1998.
He threatened Sanjay Singh and other central party leaders with consequences, if they acted against any leader or volunteer. “Some anti-party forces might have sacked Dr Daljit Singh, but common volunteers are still with him, and we are going to them, for we don’t use and throw people,” said Khalsa.
While Dr Gandhi had attended the programme of sacked AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Parshant Bhushan, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Khalsa was kept out out of an AAP rally at Issru in his own constituency. “They threw me a challenge. I accept it,” he added.
‘PUNJAB WON’T ACCEPT KEJRI AS CM CANDIDATE’
Reacting to rumours that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal would be sent as a chief ministerial candidate to Punjab in 2017, Khalsa said he would not be acceptable to the AAP stakeholders (the voters) in the state. “The high command’s hidden agenda — to impose a parachute leader on the Punjab unit — is coming out. That’s why we ignore the state leadership. It’s a fight for the party’s freedom from Akali sympathisers, Congress moles, and rich people who thrive at the cost of volunteers,” said the MP.
Dr Gandhi said: “What I am today is because of volunteers, so I am going to tell them that I will fight for them and the party’s revival in Punjab.” Chhotepur had announced that the AAP would expel those going to any parallel rally.
