Audio leak: AAP clean chit to Bhagwant Mann

Tuesday, 08/09/2015

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/

Patiala : Aam Aadmi Party’s national speaker and Punjab affairs in charge Sanjay Singh today gave a clean chit to Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann on the matter of audio tape leak.

He said it was a normal conversation between two of the party’s MPs and that did not call for any disciplinary action against Mann.

Downplaying the uproar over the leaked audio, he claimed the Sangrur MP was simply discussing few issues that he wanted to discuss with the senior leaders and that did not mean he was speaking against the party.

“AAP has given full autonomy to its party leaders to raise any issue with the leadership for the betterment of party,” he said.

Sanjay Singh accused the Narendra Modi-led NDA government of getting the phones of all MPs tapped and leaking their conversation as and when they deemed fit to gain political mileage.

Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, meanwhile, fired a fresh salvo at the party’s leadership, accusing it of making desperate attempt to deviate the attention from party’s poor state of affairs.

He alleged the leadership was trying shift the onus of the leaked audio conversation between him and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann to the Centre.

Dr Gandhi claimed that instead of focusing and doing course correction on what transpired in the conversation, the leadership was hell bent upon ignoring the seriousness of the party’s organisational matters.

Dr Gandhi alleged he was anguished that the party was still not able to comprehend the seriousness of the tape. "They want to write off the issue without even considering its repercussions. It is a question of respect of federalism and decentralisation of power within the party."

I'm a loyal Aam Aadmi soldier: Mann
New Delhi: Denying allegations that he had no faith in party leadership, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann on Monday sided with Arvind Kejriwal saying he is a loyal soldier of the party. Talking to media after meeting party leaders here, Mann said he only talked about groupism in the state unit and did not take Kejriwal's name. "This is a result of dirty politics. It is their frustration and this is being done seeing the rise of AAP in Punjab. Kejriwal is nowhere stated in the tape. We are fighting against the mafias in Punjab and I am working as a soldier within the principles of my party," Mann said.

Will seek probe into phone tapping, says party spokesperson
New Delhi: The party went on the offensive against the Centre on Monday, saying it has asked its MPs to write to the Speaker over their phones being "tapped". It also said the issues raised by Mann in the conversation were of no "consequence". "The content of the chat is of no consequence here. It's a petty issue. But the larger story is how the Centre is resorting to such tactics against MPs. There should be an inquiry over this," AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said.

‘No respect for women’
Ferozepur: Party’s women wing convener for Ferozepur, Faridkot and Khadoor Sahib districts Amandeep Kaur on Monday resigned from the post. She said at a meeting in Mohali two months ago, three leaders misbehaved with her, but no one took cognisance of the incident. “I had brought the matter to the notice of senior leaders, but no action was taken. It seems there is no respect for women,” she alleged.