AAP crisis: Kumar Vishwas made Rajasthan chief while Amanatullah Khan is suspended from party
Vishwas had insisted that stern action be taken against the Okhla MLA who had accused him of trying to overthrow the party chief.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday suspended its Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan, who had accused another party leader Kumar Vishwas of trying to overthrow Arvind Kejriwal. After meeting Vishwas on Tuesday night, Kejriwal made him the party’s chief in Rajasthan ahead of Assembly elections there.
At Kejriwal’s meeting with Vishwas, the latter had insisted that stern action be taken against Amantullah Khan, PTI quoted sources as saying.
“Vishwas is upset, but I am sure we will convince him,” Kejriwal said after emerging from the meeting, The Times of India reported. “He is an integral part of our movement.”
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also part of the late-night meeting that took place in Vishwas’s Ghaziabad house. A section of party MLAs also held a separate meeting with Vishwas early on Wednesday but details were not available.
The crisis in the Aam Aadmi Party, which had begun before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections and deepened after the party’s poor performance in the polls, worsened after Khan alleged that Vishwas was trying to stage a coup in the party. Khan, who resigned from the party’s political affairs committee on Monday, also accused Vishwas of joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Vishwas on Tuesday claimed that he was the victim of a conspiracy within the party. “I know I will be targeted,” he said. “The efforts to tarnish my image will be made. But, let me tell those conspirators that I will not allow you to do so.”
The poet, who is also one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party, said he would not compromise on his principles. He had also expressed disappointment over the way the party leadership had dealt with Khan for his comments. “If someone had spoken against Arvind Kejriwal or Manish Sisodia, they would have been thrown out of the party,” Vishwas had said.