Hurdle to AAP’s Arun Jaitley apology plans: its co-founder Kumar Vishwas

According to AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, the party is looking to “sort out all possible legal cases at the earliest”. An integral part of this strategy, sources said, is to establish a channel of communication with Jaitley and his legal team. The source said, “Some from the AAP are in touch with Jaitley’s legal team. The point is that in a defamation case, no one really gains. Being dragged through courts is time consuming for both parties and politically there is nothing to be gained.”

Kejriwal has so far apologised to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Amit Sibal, son of former union minister Kapil Sibal. He has also “expressed regret” to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. AP leaders said their assessment was that Jaitley, like the other three, would be “keen to end the case amicably”, but Vishwas “is a potential obstacle”. A leader said, “The problem will emerge if he wants an apology not just from Kejriwal but all five. While the other four would also like to end the case, the party is not sure what Vishwas will do. No channel of communication is open with him.”

On March 16, a day after Kejriwal tendered his apology to Majithia, Vishwas had lashed out on Twitter: “I have been regularly dropping my shows to attend several court hearings related to 2013, 2014 and 2015 poll campaigns without any legal assistance from AAP. Another one pending tomorrow and I (have) been again engaging my personal lawyers for this. Will carry on this fight. Jai Hind.”

Although Vishwas, who is in Mumbai, refused to comment, his aide Supriya Tiwari told The Indian Express, “There is no question of him changing his mind. He has already said what he had to.” His manager Prabudha Saurabh said, “He will not make any political statement right now.”

AAP legal team member Rishikesh Yadav said, “We have not filed anything in the court pertaining to Arun Jaitley. If there has been any communication with him, politically, I can’t comment.”