Aam Aadmi Party MLA Baldev Singh resigned from the party’s primary membership on Wednesday, accusing party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of being “dictatorial and arrogant”. The legislator from Punjab also accused the party leadership of “giving up its basic ideology and principles”, The Tribune reported.
Singh, who represents Jaitu in the Assembly, tendered his resignation in a letter to Kejriwal. “As a result of your dictatorial, arrogant and autocratic style of functioning, pioneers of AAP like Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patikar, Kiran Bedi, Dr Gandhi, HS Khalsa, Sucha Singh Chottepur, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh, HS Phoolka etc. have all left the party or have been thrown out in a humiliating manner,” he alleged. “Therefore, keeping these saddening developments and circumstances in mind... I have decided to quit as a primary member of AAP.”
Another MLA, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, had quit the party on January 6 after being suspended two months earlier. Singh said “we were shocked” with the undemocratic way in which Khaira was removed as leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly.
The legislator also lashed out at Kejriwal for offering a “meek apology” to former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, claiming that it revealed the Delhi chief minister’s “double standards” in politics. Majithia was accused of involvement in drug trafficking. “Your duplicity on the vital issue of Punjab river waters also puts you on the same pedestal of cunning leaders of India,” Baldev Singh added.
The MLA claimed that instead of rewarding legislators from Punjab for their efforts, Kejriwal sent in an “army of outsiders to muzzle the voice of our people”. “This arrogant and over confident attitude of the party hierarchy led to a crashing defeat of AAP in Punjab in the 2017 Assembly elections,” he added.
Here is the full text of the letter:
Dear Kejriwal ji,
I am pained to forward my resignation from the primary membership of AAP because the party has completely given up its basic ideology and principles.
I was deeply motivated and moved by the anti corruption movement launched by Anna Hazare and thus decided to become part of AAP. In order to improve the socio-political situation of our country particularly of our state Punjab I went to the extent of quitting my government job as Head Teacher, although I had more than 4 years of service left. This step of mine not only created panic in my family but also left my future unsure but yet I preferred to take a risk merely due to the lofty promises made by you and AAP.
Many Punjabis like me saw a dream to improve the plight of Punjab through the third alternative created by AAP and whole heartedly supported this dream in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by sending 4 MP’s from the state, at a time when the security deposit of most candidates across the country were forfeited. Instead of expressing faith in the abilities of Punjabis and rewarding them you preferred to send an army of outsiders to muzzle the voice of our people. The said army was headed by two arrogant Subedar’s who indulged in every mean maneuvers to promote their near and dear ones. Thereafter all sorts of allegations including exchange of money, favouritism, nepotism and exploitation of women started gaining ground. Lots of AAP volunteers from Punjab tried to complain about their arrogant activities but you always turned a blind eye to save your blue eyed boys.
This arrogant and over confident attitude of the party hierarchy led to a crashing defeat of AAP in Punjab in the 2017 assembly elections. Learning no lesson to fix accountability you never bothered to look into the reasons of this humiliating defeat and have once again handed over the reins of Punjab to cunning leaders like Durgesh Pathak.
We in Punjab were deeply shocked when you unceremoniously and undemocratically removed an honest Sukhpal Singh Khaira from the post of LoP, without taking Punjab MLA’s into confidence. Although few handpicked MLA’s were invited for a pre planned meeting in Delhi but most MLA’s were pressurised to sign on dotted lines through a letter circulated to them on whatsapp. Some MLA’s were called by Mr. Manish Sisodia on telephone to solicit their views but I categorically state that I was neither invited for any meeting nor even called on phone to ascertain my views while illegitimately removing Mr. Khaira as LoP. To further rub salt on the woes of Punjabi’s you played the Dalit card as a reason to remove Mr. Khaira and appoint Mr. Harpal Cheema as LoP. Let me remind you that not a single Dalit of Punjab accepted this ploy of dalit card because of the track record of AAP. The Punjab AAP never bothered to appoint even one Dalit as District President out of 26 such appointments, similarly no Dalit was appointed Zone President while expanding its state organisational structure post 2017 elections, nor did you consider any Dalit for the three Rajya Sabha seats of Delhi. If you are so genuinely concerned about the upliftment of the weaker sections and dalits, why don’t you appoint a Dalit to the top three positions of AAP currently held by you and Manish Sisodia i.e. Convenor, Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister.
Your meek apology to the drug tainted former Minister Bikram Singh Majithia further revealed your double standards in politics. Your duplicity on the vital issue of Punjab river waters also puts you on the same pedestal of cunning leaders of India. You have blatantly gone back on the most important promise of Swaraj, by centralising all powers with yourself. You have also thrown to winds the constitution of the party merely to remain Convenor and continue your grip on the party. Your hobnobbing and flirting with the Congress is yet another example of sheer political opportunism, that has left the people of India bewildered.
As a result of your dictatorial, arrogant and autocratic style of functioning, pioneers of AAP like Parashant Bhushan, Yogender Yadav, Medha Patikar, Kiran Bedi, Dr. Gandhi, H.S.Khalsa, Sucha Singh Chottepur, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh, H.S.Phoolka etc. have all left the party or have been thrown out in a humiliating manner.
Therefore, keeping in view the above saddening developments and circumstances in mind which portray AAP in the same category of rampantly corrupt traditional parties like the Congress, BJP, SAD etc., I have decided to quit as primary member of AAP.
With regards,
— (Source: The Tribune)
Master Baldev Singh,
MLA Jaitu
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