AAP denies internal rift, Kumar Vishwas says party members afraid of his voice

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and one of the founder members of the party on Thursday alleged that “many people within his party were afraid of his voice”.

The poet-politician was irked over not being included among the key speakers at the sixth council meet of the party that was held in Delhi on Thursday.

“Till today, I thought only Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were afraid of me speaking the truth. But now, after I was not given a slot among the key speakers, it looks like party people (who drew the list of speakers for Thursday’s meeting), don’t want me to speak as well, “ Vishwas said soon after leaving the nearly seven-hour long meeting at a resort owned by a party lawmaker in the city’s outskirts.

Vishwas has been unhappy after suspended MLA Amanatullah Khan was reinstated in the party earlier this week. Khan, an MLA from Okhla, was suspended in May for his tirade against Vishwas.

Though, AAP leaders denied any differences with Vishwas, the poet-politician comments about the party proved otherwise.

On Thursday, before Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia could begin his speech, a group of workers, stood up and raised the issue of not including Vishwas among the key speakers.

“After a group of national council members objected, party leader Gopal Rai asked me to speak. I said that I had been the voice of the movement since its inception, but I will not want to speak if my name is not included in the formal list of speakers,” said Vishwas, who had convened the party’s last five meetings.

Apart from Sisodia, senior party leaders Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh, Gopal Rai and national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal were the key speakers at the meeting.

Party’s spokesperson Sanjay Singh, while playing down the rift, said Vishwas spoke about Rajasthan where he is the party’s election in-charge.

“There is absolutely no rift within the party. He (Kumar Vishwas) like other state in-charges spoke about the party’s preparation in Rajasthan.

The rumour of a rift further received credence when the supporters of both Vishwas and Khan shouted ‘zindabad’ (long live) slogans in favour of their respective leaders and both the leader’s cars ended up blocking each other’s ways as they came out of the venue.

Vishwas had earlier alleged that some people in the party are thwarting his political career by stopping his entry into the Rajya Sabha.

“The revoking of Amanatullah Khan’s suspension is a clear indication that they do not want me to enter Rajya Sabha,” Vishwas said. Three Rajya Sabha seats in Delhi will fall vacant after the Congress nominees — Karan Singh, Janardhan Dwivedi and Pervez Hashmi — complete their six-year term in January 2018. All the seats will go to the AAP as it has an overwhelming majority in the Delhi Assembly.