AAP kicks out Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav; rebel leaders call party ‘khap panchayat’

New Delhi: Soon after being shown the door, lawyer and expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has become a 'Khap Panchayat’, led by the ‘dictator’.

"AAP has become a Khap Panchayat, there is a Tanashah (Dictator), and everybody follows him," Bhushan said.

He also lashed out at Pankaj Gupta and Ashish Khetan for acting like judges.

"It is against natural justice for the complainants (Pankaj Gupta, Ashish Khetan) to become the judges, especially as there are serious charges against both of them," he said.

"In our reply we had mentioned that whatever we had done we did to save the party, to save its spirit. Finally, after our expulsion, all this Aam Aadmi Party drama has ended," he added.

The Aam Aadmi Party national disciplinary committee on Monday expelled Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha for 'gross indiscipline' and 'anti-party activities'.

The decision to sack them was taken by the national disciplinary committee after it was not satisfied with the response to the show cause notice.

Its funny. 'Sources' leaked content of my Show Cause Notice even before I received it. The Notice charges me with leaking news! #WhatAJoke

— Yogendra Yadav (@AapYogendra) April 18, 2015

"The party's national disciplinary committee has taken a decision to expel Prashant Bhusan, Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha. They were expelled for gross indiscipline, anti-party activities and violation of the party's code of conduct," said party spokesperson Deepak Bajpai.

An AAP press release stated that the four have violated the code of conduct detailed in the party's constitution.

"The committee received the responses of Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar while Jha failed to furnish his response within the prescribed time. The Committee carefully considered responses furnished by Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Anand Kumar and found them unsatisfactory. The committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Anand Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities. They have violated the code of conduct detailed in article VI a (a) of the party's constitution," the release said.

"The committee is of the view that Ajit Jha failed to furnish his response in stipulated time despite sufficient time to his disposal. After examining the evidence put before it, the committee is of unanimous view that Ajit Jha is also guilty of gross indiscipline and indulging into anti-party activities. The Committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party," it added.

Got the Show Cause Notice from Disciplinary committee at midnight. The complainants and witnesses are themselves judges! #WhatAJoke

— Yogendra Yadav (@AapYogendra) April 18, 2015

The rebels were served a showcause notice on April 17 to explain why they had organised the 'Swaraj Samwad', a parallel forum.

Bhushan was charged with working for the party's defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls. He was also charged with supporting AWAM, a break away group of the party.

Three of them responded to the notice except Jha. The rebels also accused party chief Arvind Kejriwal of violating its constitution and attacked two members of its disciplinary panel for allegedly doing a "planted" story and accepting donations from dubious firms.

Bhushan and Yadav were removed from AAP's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on March 4.

I have requested a meeting with Prashant Bhushan to give him my book-The Crown Prince,The Gladiator & The Hope-Battle for Change.Waiting !!

— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) April 21, 2015

Both the camps--one headed by Kejriwal and second by the rebel duo-- resorted to talks, but the negotiations failed after which Bhushan, Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha were removed from National Executive, AAP's highest decision-making body.

The rebel leaders had then organised the Swaraj Samvad convention on April 17. Falling short of declaring a new political outfit, the rebel camp announced of starting of Swaraj Abhiyan across the country.

Bhushan and Yadav were one of the founder leaders of the AAP. The activist-lawyer had raised several anti-corruption issues and was a key-aide of Kejriwal since its the Anna movement while Yadav went to become party's chief spokesperson and had chalked out its policy on various issues.