AAP infighting grows
Infighting yesterday gripped the nascent political party Aam Aadmi Party, which came to power in Delhi three weeks ago after a stunning electoral performance, when one of its lawmakers accused the party of backtracking on its poll promises and called its chief Arvind Kejriwal a “liar”.
Vinod Kumar Binny, a former local leader of Congress party, rebelled a second time on Wednesday, accusing the AAP of not fulfilling the promises it had made to the people before elections to Delhi state legislature and calling Kejriwal a liar.
Another AAP activist Captain Gopinath, known for launching India's first low-cost airlines, criticized the party's decision to stop Foreign Direct Investment in multi- brand retail, in the first ideologically discordant note in the party which assumed power in Delhi three weeks ago.
Binny's attack on Kejriwal and the AAP government came after the party refused to consider him as its candidate for coming parliamentary elections in Delhi or accommodate him in Kejriwal cabinet. Binny denied he had sought a ministerial berth or parliamentary poll nomination.
Several opinion polls have shown that AAP could win as many as six of the seven parliamentary seats in Delhi.
Binny said though the party during the election campaign had promised to provide 700 litres of free water to each household, the government “very cleverly” announced that those exceeding the limit will have to pay for the full amount.
He said forming the government by taking support of Congress was a “compromise of the party's principles”.
Rubbishing the MLA's criticism, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had yesterday said Binny had come to him for ministership and later he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
The MLA termed as “complete lie” Kejriwal's statement that he was seeking a Lok Sabha election nomination. He threatened to go on a hunger strike if AAP fails to fulfil its promises by January 27.
Regarding AAP's opposition to FDI in retail, Capt Gopinath, founder of now-defunct Air Deccan, said this would send a “wrong message” to investors about India's economic prospects”.
Asked if he would quit AAP, Gopinath said “of course not. I admired them and I still do. But I don't have to agree on everything”.
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