AAP has become 'one-man party', says Capt Gopinath

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Captain G R  Gopinath on Saturday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which represented the hopes and aspirations of the people who were looking for a new kind of politics, has become one-man party.

"It has become a one-man party. It has been told in advance that if they don't fall in line they would be washed. The guy who speaks out will not be the member of the national executive next time," he told ANI.

"It is very sad. It is very tragic because the AAP stood for something larger than itself. It represented the hopes and the aspirations of people who are looking for a new kind of politics who thought that AAP will bring in humility, transparency, inner party democracy, which does not exist in existing political parties," he added.

Earlier in the day, AAP's founder members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were removed from the party's national executive. Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha were also removed the national executive.

According to reports, a resolution to remove the two dissident leaders was passed by around 230 of around 300 national council members present in the meeting. 247 members voted in favour of the motion, 8 against and 44 abstained from voting.

Talking to the media after the meeting that was chaired by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav said that democracy has been murdered in the meet.

Prashant Bhushan on his part said the meeting was a mockery as their voices were suppressed and Lokpal was absent.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh, however, later said the reports of scuffle during the meeting are completely baseless and untrue.

Earlier on Friday, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav had hit out at Kejriwal, accusing him of stifling internal democracy and adopting unfair means to capture power.

They alleged that any issue raised by them was being projected as questioning Kejriwal's leadership and attempts to remove him from the post of AAP's national convener.