AAP rebels reply to showcause; hit out at Kejriwal, top panel

AAP rebels Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav today accused party chief Arvind Kejriwal of "gross violation" of its constitution and attacked two members of its disciplinary panel for allegedly doing a "planted" story and accepting donations from dubious firms.
Responding to show-cause notices issued by AAP's National Disciplinary Committee (NDC), Bhushan and Yadav questioned its locus standi for seeking their reply, saying the panel was formed after the "illegal" and "unconstitutional" meeting of the party's National Council on March 28.
Yadav claimed that Kejriwal's decision to resign as the chief minister in his first term and his move to stage a dharna outside Rail Bhavan had been taken after "bypassing" the relevant decision-making bodies of the party.

"Major political decisions were taken bypassing the relevant decision-making bodies. No committee was even consulted in major decisions like resignation of Delhi government in February, 2014, diversion of resources to Varanasi and Amethi constituencies and the allocation of funds to candidates during the Lok Sabha elections.
"The majority NE decision (15 for, 4 against) to allow state units to decide about state Assembly elections was not implemented till it was reversed in the next meeting. The PAC decision on the CM staging a dharna was unilaterally overturned by the CM himself," he said.
In their response to the notice, issued to them on April 17, the duo questioned Pankaj Gupta and Ashish Khetan's presence on the disciplinary committee, saying their inclusion "smacks" of packing it in such a way so as to ensure a desired outcome.

They added that the two had led a smear campaign against them and, in such a scenario, how can they be the "judges" in this case.

They also accused Khetan of doing a "planted" story and said that, instead of taking action against him, the former journalist has now been rewarded by being named chairperson of the Delhi Dialogue commission and appointed as a member of the party's NDC.
Referring to the case of a donation of Rs 2 crore allegedly from dubious firms, Bhushan said that instead of referring the case to the then party Lokpal, Admiral L Ramdas, the ombudsman himself was sacked from the post.

Ajit Jha and Anand Kumar, the two other AAP leaders issued with show-cause notices, too, submitted their responses.
But AAP rebutted the charges, saying that even the Home Ministry had given a clean chit to the donations received by the party.
"They are making fun of themselves by making such charges. Khetan does not need the certificate of media on his journalism. He has the highest journalistic integrity and he dared Bhushan to prove his charges," said AAP leader Ashutosh.