Anjali Damania quits AAP, gives party leadership 48 hours to come clean
New Delhi: The crisis in the AAP deepened on Wednesday with senior party leader from Mumbai Anjali Damania quitting the party in the wake of reports that Arvind Kejriwal allegedly tried to poach Congress MLAs to form the government in the national capital last year.
Damania, known to be close to Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, lashed out at the party leadership saying she had backed the AAP chief for "principles" and not "horse- trading".
"I quit... I have not come into AAP for this nonsense. I believed him... I backed Arvind for principles not horse-trading," she tweeted.
I quit.. Ihave not come into Aap for this nonsense. I believed him.. I backed Arvind for principles not Horse-trading http://t.co/lxMaBkwxeO
— Anjali Damania (@anjali_damania) March 11, 2015"I demand inquiry in 48 hrs into all these allegations. Vols (volunteers) have given their sweat & blood. It is not for the party...It is for the country," she said in another tweet.
A senior leader from Maharashtra, Damania had unsuccessfully contested from Nagpur constituency against Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari whom she had accused of corruption.
The resignation of Damania comes at a time when the AAP is battling internal strife after two senior leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav criticised Kejriwal openly for his working style.
Former AAP MLA from Rohini, Rajesh Garg alleged that Kejriwal had spoken about breaking the Congress and forming the government with the support of their MLAs in Delhi last year. Garg also circulated an audio clip of a purported telephonic conversation of Kejriwal to back his allegations.
Former AAP MLA claims Kejriwal tried to poach 6 Cong MLAs last year
In another murky twist to the raging infighting in the AAP, former party MLA Rajesh Garg accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of trying to poach six Congress MLAs to form government last year.
He also claimed that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was in touch with the Congress MLAs to lure them to float a new party and support AAP from outside.
"We are ready to form the government, but Congress is not ready to support us. Manish (Sisodia) is in touch with the Congress. Do one thing, split the Congress and ask their six MLAs to float a new party and support us," Kejriwal was purportedly heard saying in a telephonic conversation with Garg.
Garg also alleged that Kejriwal wanted to avoid facing the elections.
"Congress won't support us. We have been trying for the last one and a half month. These six Congress MLAs would have supported BJP, but three of them are Muslims. They won't support the BJP. Those six MLAs should support us," Kejriwal purportedly told Garg in the audio clip.
After the controversy broke over the clip, Garg feigned ignorance on how the clip became public saying he had e-mailed it to party leader Kumar Vishwas.
"I had recorded the conversation. I have been in the anti-corruption movement and I keep on recording conversations. I was strictly against poaching MLAs and I stopped going to the party office after the episode," he said.
