Aam Aadmi Party plans organisational revamp

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Sunday, decided to take up organisational revamp measures and address issues raised by members in the face of a series of resignations at the top level.

After a meeting of the political affairs committee and the national executive here, party convenor Arvind Kejriwal said AAP will re-establish the two committees and re-energise the party from grassroot to national level. The process will be named 'Mission Vistaar'.

Reacting to senior leader Yogendra Yadav’s criticism he said, “I am human and I make mistakes. Yogendra Yadav has the right to point them out.”

Hinting that agitations against the Centre will continue, he hoped that the BJP Government does not hike gas prices and demanded subsidies for water and electricity from the Central Government for Delhi. AAP’s MPs will raise these issues in Parliament, he said.

Battling dissent Barely a year into active politics, AAP is already battling dissent within the party. Two of its founding members — Shazia Ilmi and Madhu Bhaduri — quit, citing disenchantment and a feeling of ‘not being heard’. Two other founding members — Yogendra Yadav and Manish Sisodia — were involved in a ‘letter’ spat that went public.

Yadav charged that the party was falling “prey to personality cult” and that the decisions taken reflected the wishes of party chief Kejriwal. “Major decisions of the party appear to, and indeed do, reflect the wishes of one person; when he changes his mind, the party changes its course of action; proximity to the leader comes to substitute for organisational roles and responsibilities,” Yadav wrote, in a letter to the party’s Political Affairs Committee. Another letter written by Sisodia reportedly blamed Yadav for ‘wrong advice’ during the Lok Sabha polls and his tussle with AAP’s Haryana unit and blamed him for the party’s debacle. Kejriwal’s silence on the issue made matters worse until Saturday, when he tweeted: “Yog Yadav has raised some important issues. All of us will work on it… He is a very dear friend and a very valued colleague”. Later, he also tweeted, “We will also try to get Shazia (Ilmi) back.”

Sources said Maharashtra AAP leader Anjali Damania, who is in Delhi for the national meet, is slated to speak to Ilmi to try and win her back. Ilmi had quit citing the grip of a ‘coterie ring’ around Kejriwal, which was isolating party workers.

BJP, Congress criticism Meanwhile, other political parties such as the BJP and the Congress have blamed AAP members for not having any vision for the country and fulfilling their own ambitions.

While some have declared that “the party is over’, some disillusioned AAP supporters feel it has “lost an opportunity” to give the right direction to the goodwill that it had generated.

Churn waiting to happen “Many people had joined AAP looking for instant answers to their problems. Also, a rising force tends to attract all kinds of elements, ticket seekers, opportunists etc. So, this churning had to happen to deal with sudden expansion of the party,” said an AAP supporter, who did not wish to be identified.

“They were in a hurry and had no time to tackle internal issues, which they will hopefully do now. After all, there is still a huge body of support for them, as also huge political space for alternative politics waiting to be filled up,” said another supporter.

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