Bhushan rejects Atishi Marlena's claims, says 'negotiations didn't end because of his father'

Rebel Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday rejected party leader Atishi Marlena's assertion that he backed out of ending the party's internal feud because of his father Shanti Bhushan.

"It is not correct to say that negotiations broke down because of my father Shanti Bhushan. Atishi was not present during discussions and negotiations, so she is not aware of the full facts," Bhushan told ANI.

"Yogendra Yadav ji and I had responded to her on email. These were private conversations, did not want to make them public. It's unfortunate that the person who has made them public has not bothered to give our responses," he added.

The dissident AAP leader stressed that there was an enormous trust deficit within the party by the time the fissures came out.

"There was by this time, enormous trust deficit and no confidence that any agreement was being negotiated by negotiators, and not Arvind, would be honoured given the past history of these things," he further added.

Marlena, who was dropped as the party's spokesperson earlier this month, had reportedly in a letter to senior party leaders alleged that Sanjay Singh had almost brought an end to the party's rift, but Bhushan refused to accept the terms because his father threatened to move out of the family home.

She also reportedly added that Bhushan's decision would go down as one of the 'gravest mistakes of our time'.

Bhushan and Yadav were expelled from the AAP 's national executive on March 28 for anti-party activities.

Following their expulsion, Bhushan, Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha have convened a meeting of their supporters on April 14 to discuss the future course of action, amid speculations that they may a float a new political party.