Why AAP boat is rocking in Punjab

The only saving grace for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha elections came from Punjab which elected all its four MPs. The growing resentment among the party MPs against the party leadership is now leading to the likely bursting of the balloon and plunge the party in a serious crisis.

The latest in the series of bickerings in the party pertaining to its MPs was an outburst by two of them describing the party leadership as "childish" which is trying to arm twist them for questoning the reorganisation of the state unit of the party. While two MPs, Dharamvira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa, have come on record, they claim that they are in touch with another MP Sadhu Singh who is travelling but endorses their stand. The fourth MP, Bhagwant Mann, is away in Canada and could not be contacted by them.

Their diatribe was caused by the unilateral decision of the party high command to restructure the state unit of the party without consulting the party MPs. The party had appointed Sanjay Singh as the Punjab political affairs in-charge and he, in turn, had reorganised the party unit without consulting the MPs. The MPs had also demanded a change in the party leadership in the state but its central leaders had decided to go ahead and retain Sucha Singh Chhotepur as the State convenor of the party.

What has really irked the MPs is the alleged "armed twisting tactics" of party chief Arvind Kejriwal. Shortly after two MPs voiced their protest against the restructuring of the state unit of the party, the MPs received a text message on their mobiles seeking a report card on their performance as MPs.

The text message, sent by the Sanjay Singh, asked the MPs to list within five days their achievements as MPs. The message said that the party president had asked for a report on three points: How many questions of public interest have you raised in Parliament; How have you contributed to the party’s growth in your constituency; What work have you done in your constituency.

The message led to an angry outburst by at least two MPs, Gandhi and Khalsa, who held a meeting and have also claimed to have spoken and received endorsement from Sadhu Singh. Gandhi described Delhi leaders as 'dictatorial and undemocratic'. He said that the order given a day after their meeting resenting the restructure of the party was malafide and a motivated act. He added that it was a clever reaction to their criticism of Sanjay Singh and Chottepur and pointed out that the party had handed over the command of the state unit to "political novices with doubtful credentials".

Khalsa was even more devastating in his criticism. He said he can only "scoff and laugh" at the party’s decision to seek their report card. He described the act as akin to "Gestapo act" to terrorise the MPs and said the MPs were not "idiotics" to respond to such a notice. He said the "childish act" of the party leadership was an immature reaction to their criticism of the reorganisation of the party in the state. He went on to say that Sanjay Singh was a "non entity" who had been behaving like the chief minister of Punjab.

While Gandhi was known to be vocal in his criticism of Kejriwal when the two senior leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were suspended and expelled from the party, the other three had maintained a studied silence. There were reports even then that Gandhi and one more MP may cause a split in the party. However, they did not take any drastic step although they have been voicing their resentment in the party platform.

Yogendra Yadav has expectedly reacted to the developments in Punjab as a natural outcome of the "durbar culture" being practised by Kejriwal and his supporters. Even the disciplinary committee chairman of the Punjab unit of AAP, Daljit Singh, has questioned the move to restructure the party without taking into confidence the party MPs.

The latest rebellion in the party may lead to a serious crisis which was wanting to make a strong bid for the February 2017 assembly elections. The four MPs together represent 36 Assembly segments out of a total of 117 and other party candidates had finished second in 25 others.

The internal strife within the AAP may sound music to the ears of state Congress leaders who had been preparing to a challenge from SAD-BJP combine as well as the AAP. Even the alliance partners may be smiling.