Parties at different ends of the political spectrum — the BJP, the Congress and the Left — on Saturday concurred that the rift within the Aam Aadmi Party was not just internal wrangling, but had the potential to disrupt governance in Delhi. They saw the divisions as evidence that the AAP was not a transparent and mature political party.
Senior leaders of these parties said the AAP, which made its debut claiming to be a party that followed the principles of transparency and democracy, had let down the voters who gave them a chance to administer Delhi.
“The mask is off. After proclaiming to be a party that is transparent and principled, it has exposed itself to be a party of opportunists. The way the internal Lokpal of the party has been treated and not allowed to be part of the national executive makes it evident that the party is led by a dictatorial Arvind Kejriwal, who does not take kindly to any Opposition criticism,” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma told The Hindu .
He said the voters’ mandate had been “shattered” and the party that came to power in Delhi “with no political acumen” had “cheated” the people. “Our charge against the AAP has been vindicated,” Mr. Sharma said.
The Congress’s Sharmishtha Mukherjee said the falling out between members showed a “complete collapse of ideological foundation.” She said the party should focus on good governance and delivery rather than washing dirty linen in public.
Her senior party colleague Randeep Surjewala said though the Congress refrained from commenting on the internal affairs of another party, in the case of AAP, several issues needed to be flagged. “Issues like transparency of funding [for the party], appropriate selection of non-compromised candidates and the hegemony/autocracy of one leader, are these not very fundamental principles on which he [Arvind Kejriwal] used to accuse others of wrongdoing?” he asked.
Mr. Surjewala said State governance and public order were the biggest casualties of the “fratricidal war within the AAP.”
D. Raja of the Communist Party of India said that unless the AAP resolved the fracas, it would have ramifications on the governance of Delhi. “These are no longer internal party issues; they are now in the public domain and will have an effect on the State administration,” he said.
National Conference's Omar Abdullah made a tongue-in-cheek comment about the strife, tweeting that “To think that commentators were actually advising older political parties to be more like #AAP seems #AAP has decided to be more like us :-).”
The AAP crisis
Party’s founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are voted out of its political affairs committee.
Senior party leader Mayank Gandhi protests ouster of Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan.
Yadav asks AAP workers to put an end to infighting.
Senior AAP leader from Mumbai Anjali Damania resigns from the party after allegations of “horse trading” surface against Mr. Kejriwal.
Senior leaders from the Kejriwal camp meet Mr. Yadav and hold discussions.
AAP ‘unity’ talks fail