New Delhi: Professor Yogendra Yadav's exit from the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) highest decision making body Political Affairs Committee (PAC) is not entirely a surprising move for those who know what is happening in the party. Even though everything was looking picture perfect to the outside world till last week, the situation inside was not at all harmonious since the inception of the AAP by Arvind Kejriwal.
The ouster of Yogendra Yadav has neither shocked, not surprised many AAP insiders. Many of them knew that Yadav was on his way out. The situation got worse after the AAP won Delhi Assembly election by decimating both the BJP and the Congress.
According to insiders, the difference is not just ideological. There is a serious trust deficit among some top leaders. A faction comprising Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are on one side and most others are with the party chief Kejriwal. The Kejriwal faction alleges that Yadav and Bhushans tried to hijack the party in the past. Some of the close associates of Kejriwal like Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan have openly attacked Yadav and Bhushans.
Sympathisers of Yadav and Bhushans allege that Kejriwal's dictatorial ways are leading the party to ruin. They claim that after the historic win in Delhi, instead of consolidating the party and sharing power, Kejriwal has allowed both the factions to wash their dirty linen in public. A 'sting' operation done on Yadav by a close aide of Kejriwal in last August proves that the dispute or distrust is quiet old. This 'sting' operation done on Yadav has shocked the admirers of the AAP and even media people.
According to Surajit Dasgupta, who was a part of the AAP's decision making body till November 2013 and currently National Affairs Editor of 'Swarajya', Yadav and Bhushan did everything to subvert internal democracy in the Aam Aadmi Party until the tables turned against them. In all likelihood, the party chief tolerated them for his own intellectual shortcoming and the fear that the duo would be dangerous as dissenters.
In a scathing and detailed article, Dasgupta tries to explain what is wrong with the AAP and the games being played by various players both within and outside the party. He writes that Yadav and Bhushans story of subterfuge is long. While one of them was initially admired within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for disarming other panelists on television talk shows with a modulated intonation of voice, the other was hailed for his public interest litigations (PILs) against perceived corrupt people. But neither Yogendra Yadav nor Prashant Bhushan is popular in the party, not at least in the national council - the third line of command of which this writer was a part till 21 November 2013, when I resigned due to a manifesto of freebies and doles. In the ultimate analysis, such a manifesto that has persisted till 2015 would not have been possible if there was internal democracy in the AAP right from the time of its inception. Read on to know how.
A few other AAP insiders who spoke to IBNLive also agree that Yogendra Yadav has big political ambitions and wants the AAP to go national once again. However Kejriwal is trying to be very pragmatic and wants to focus on running the Delhi government. This has led to a fight between him and Yadav.
Some even describe Yadav as a soft spoken, wily politician, who hides his big ambitions behind the veneer of his scholarship and intellectual powers. According to them Kejriwal and his team are not comfortable with the growing demands and ambitions of Yadav and Bhushans.
When Kejriwal is away in Bengaluru for a naturopathy treatment, his team has successfully ousted Yogendra Yadav from AAP's highest decision making body. Will Yadav continue to stay in AAP? Will Kejriwal be able to run the party without Yadav and Bhushans? Only the time will tell.
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