Embroiled in a deep internal crisis following voices of dissent aired by two of its key founding members - Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav - the AAP’s first national executive committee meeting here on Wednesday, after its historic win in Delhi, is expected to be stormy.

Amid reports that Yadav and Bhushan may be removed from the party’s political affairs committee (PAC), the rift became uglier after a media report appeared on Tuesday, disclosing Yadav as the source of a critical story on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that had appeared in a national daily.

The report is said to be based on a recorded phone conversation between a close aide of Kejriwal and a journalist who was not aware that the conversation was being recorded. The recording was made public by a section of the AAP.

Kejriwal, national convenor of AAP, said on Twitter in the morning: “Deeply hurt and pained by what is going on in the party; this is betrayal of trust that Delhi posed in us.”

Later he tweeted: “I refuse to be drawn into this ugly battle. Will concentrate on Delhi’s governance. Will not let people’s trust break under any circumstances.”

The Delhi Chief Minister is said to heading to Bengaluru for 10 days for naturopathy to treat his diabetes and cough. He is not expected to attend the March 4 meeting.

Call for united AAP As the “party with a difference” grapples with differences within, AAP supporters took to social media, pleading for a united AAP, even as senior leaders went public, spilling dissent on to the streets.

In a Facebook post, senior AAP leader from Punjab HS Phoolka struck back at Yadav, saying the latter “wanted control even at the party’s cost”.

In the build-up to the Wednesday meeting, Yadav and Bhushan’s internal notes found their way to the media, giving a peek into their criticism of Kejriwal and the “personality-based” functioning of the party. Bhushan told a TV channel that there had been a “breakdown of communication” between him and Kejriwal.

“There is a great danger of AAP becoming a one-man show. We didn't form the party to make it like any other political party where there is a high command and one person calls the shots,” he had said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, father of Prashant Bhushan and another founding AAP member, who had criticised Kejriwal during the Delhi election campaign, took a U-turn on Tuesday.

He appealed to his son and Yadav to support Kejriwal. In a letter to the party’s national executive, Bhushan Senior said there should not be any rift in the party.

 “Party's win in Delhi election shows clean politics is accepted by all. AAP must spread clean politics to all parts of the country,” TV channels quoted the letter as saying.

Earlier exits Dissent within the AAP is not new. The party, a conglomeration of disparate interest groups, has earlier too seen the exit of some of its founding members, such as Shazia Ilmi and Madhu Bhaduri. Both had cited disenchantment and a feeling of “not being heard”.

The ‘letter’ spat between Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenant Manish Sisodia (now Delhi Deputy Chief Minister) and Yadav last year was the first open indication of dissent. Yadav, considered the ‘ideas man’, had charged that the party is falling “prey to personality cult”.

As the AAP gears up to tackle internal differences, its biggest test lies outside — with the people. After storming to power with 67 out of 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, Kejriwal had tweeted that he will devote himself “2 finding systemic solns to Delhi's problems”.

However, the AAP leader first needs to find systemic solutions within his party, lest the second chance that Delhi has given to his party is frittered away.

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