The ongoing feud within Apna Dal took a turn for the worse on Thursday when party president Krishna Patel said her daughter and Mirzapur MP Anupriya Patel has been expelled from the party on grounds of “indiscipline.” “We have decided to expel Anupriya Patel on grounds of indiscipline. Ever since the Lok Sabha results, she has not been participating in the party meetings. The decision was taken in a joint meeting of the state, district and mandal level committees,” Krishna Patel said. Anupriya, however, claimed that her mother has no authority to expel her. “Documents related to my election as (party) president have already been submitted with the Election Commission in February for its consideration.” [related-post] On Wednesday, Anupriya and her supporters had allegedly barged into the party office in Lucknow and locked it. Her mother Krishna got the lock broken on Thursday and held a party meeting, during which she announced Anupriya’s ‘expulsion’. “The office is mine, it is in my name, how can she do this?” Krishna said. The rift in the party, which has two MPs and is BJP’s ally at the Centre, surfaced in October last year when Anupriya had said that her mother’s decision to make her elder sister Pallavi Patel the party’s vice-president was illegal and arbitrary. Later, Krishna removed Anupriya as the party’s general secretary. Krishna had said “the ambitions of Anupriya and her husband Ashish Kumar Singh” has brought the family and the Apna Dal at crossroads. “Due to personal ambition of Anupriya and her husband Ashish Kumar Singh, party workers who have been with the Apna Dal for 18-19 years are being disrespected. On October 20, Anupriya assumed all powers of the state president in my absence and unconstitutionally expelled many party workers, including the state president. She claimed she is the final authority in the party,” she had said.
