It is more than a little unusual for an elected leader to take leave soon after taking office, particularly one whose most famous moment involves an embarrassing decision to resign from government. Which means Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal must have been more than just under the weather when he went off to Bangalore for a 10-day naturopathy course.
And that probably also means he didn’t have much time to keep up with daily developments. Since he’s returning on Monday morning, we’ve prepared a handy cheat sheet for him to catch up on all that’s been happening in the capital.
Friendly Fire
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan have been kicked out of the political affairs committee and a large number of leaders want them off the national executive altogether. Both of these impulses have been coming from what the media has been calling the Arvind Kejriwal camp, featuring leaders like Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh. The Kejriwal camp believes that Yadav is ambitious and would like to take power away from the Delhi CM. They also believe that Bhushan was rooting for the party to lose during the Delhi elections and that his rigid stances make for bad politics.
Make up or break AAP
It now seems like the internal battle has become too bitter for everything to just get better with Kejriwal's return to the capital, and a potential attempt at reconciliation. Yadav and Bhushan themselves released a letter questioning the allegations against them that had been circulating in the media. As some have pointed out, calling for Yadav and Bhushan to be kicked out of the national executive after they were already taken off the PAC amounts to a double punishment, effectively asking both of them to leave the party. And hence, there are already rumours going around that Yadav is preparing to start a new party called the Jan Loktantrik Paksh.
Everything is expected to come to a head on March 28, when the National Executive meets next.
There are stings. Lots of stings
First we found out that people in AAP are willing not only to record phone conversations with journalists, but that they are willing to use these tapes to win internal battles. The first sting, however, was just the drizzle before the downpour. It emerged that practically everyone within AAP was bugging everyone else, staying true to their leader's ideology recommending a "setting" to sting other people.
Among the stings that went public: Kejriwal talking about wooing the Congress members of legislative assembly to support him at the same time he had a petition in the Supreme Court saying no such government should be allowed. Then a former Congress legislator claimed that he had an audio of Kejriwal offering him a ministerial berth as a reward from supporting AAP. And a third recording came out of Kejriwal saying Muslims looked to his party to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Each successive tape was less controversial than the one before, but they also point to a severe lack of trust within the party, when a leader essentially admits that he is taping everything at all times.
One-man band
In seeing the Kejriwal camp get rid of two other senior leaders who are well known outside the party, AAP has risked being seen as a one-person party. The impression that is being built is that Kejriwal can effectively run AAP by fiat and that anyone who clashes with him will be booted out. While the truth is likely to be far more nuanced than that, it is true that the bitterness of the battle against Yadav and Bhushan as well as some of the tactics that were used, are likely to have a chilling effect on any dissent against Kejriwal within the party.
Kejriwal has tried to flip the script by claiming that he wants to be focused entirely on Delhi, whereas ideas about expanding to other states, a reference to Yadav, brought up a comparison with French emperor Napoleon.
Also, er, there’s a city to govern
While all this was happening, AAP has also had to run Delhi. A month into the government's tenure, most people seem to be reasonably happy with it, according to a survey by ABP. But there haven't been any big ticket announcements besides the ones that were promised on the campaign with regards to water and electricity, and Delhi is now about to enter the summer months when demand for both of those resources will skyrocket. How the government manages this will be crucial and it won't help that there is plenty to distract within the party.
And that probably also means he didn’t have much time to keep up with daily developments. Since he’s returning on Monday morning, we’ve prepared a handy cheat sheet for him to catch up on all that’s been happening in the capital.
Friendly Fire
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan have been kicked out of the political affairs committee and a large number of leaders want them off the national executive altogether. Both of these impulses have been coming from what the media has been calling the Arvind Kejriwal camp, featuring leaders like Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh. The Kejriwal camp believes that Yadav is ambitious and would like to take power away from the Delhi CM. They also believe that Bhushan was rooting for the party to lose during the Delhi elections and that his rigid stances make for bad politics.
Make up or break AAP
It now seems like the internal battle has become too bitter for everything to just get better with Kejriwal's return to the capital, and a potential attempt at reconciliation. Yadav and Bhushan themselves released a letter questioning the allegations against them that had been circulating in the media. As some have pointed out, calling for Yadav and Bhushan to be kicked out of the national executive after they were already taken off the PAC amounts to a double punishment, effectively asking both of them to leave the party. And hence, there are already rumours going around that Yadav is preparing to start a new party called the Jan Loktantrik Paksh.
Everything is expected to come to a head on March 28, when the National Executive meets next.
There are stings. Lots of stings
First we found out that people in AAP are willing not only to record phone conversations with journalists, but that they are willing to use these tapes to win internal battles. The first sting, however, was just the drizzle before the downpour. It emerged that practically everyone within AAP was bugging everyone else, staying true to their leader's ideology recommending a "setting" to sting other people.
Among the stings that went public: Kejriwal talking about wooing the Congress members of legislative assembly to support him at the same time he had a petition in the Supreme Court saying no such government should be allowed. Then a former Congress legislator claimed that he had an audio of Kejriwal offering him a ministerial berth as a reward from supporting AAP. And a third recording came out of Kejriwal saying Muslims looked to his party to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Each successive tape was less controversial than the one before, but they also point to a severe lack of trust within the party, when a leader essentially admits that he is taping everything at all times.
One-man band
In seeing the Kejriwal camp get rid of two other senior leaders who are well known outside the party, AAP has risked being seen as a one-person party. The impression that is being built is that Kejriwal can effectively run AAP by fiat and that anyone who clashes with him will be booted out. While the truth is likely to be far more nuanced than that, it is true that the bitterness of the battle against Yadav and Bhushan as well as some of the tactics that were used, are likely to have a chilling effect on any dissent against Kejriwal within the party.
Kejriwal has tried to flip the script by claiming that he wants to be focused entirely on Delhi, whereas ideas about expanding to other states, a reference to Yadav, brought up a comparison with French emperor Napoleon.
Also, er, there’s a city to govern
While all this was happening, AAP has also had to run Delhi. A month into the government's tenure, most people seem to be reasonably happy with it, according to a survey by ABP. But there haven't been any big ticket announcements besides the ones that were promised on the campaign with regards to water and electricity, and Delhi is now about to enter the summer months when demand for both of those resources will skyrocket. How the government manages this will be crucial and it won't help that there is plenty to distract within the party.
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