AAP Pune leaders throw their lot with Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan

Party leader Medha Patkar incidentally resigned from the primary membership of the party on Saturday itself.

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Bhapkar while speaking to The Indian Express from Delhi said that  he along with Khan have decided to  openly side with Yadav. “We are yet to decide the future course of action but what happened today was disgraceful,” he said.

Bhapkar along with other supporters of Yadav had a meeting till late Saturday night at Bhushan’s home in New Delhi. Since its inception, the Maharashtra unit of the party has been a stronghold of the erstwhile socialists many of whom were associated with Yadav.  The present state coordinator Ware along with leaders like Bhapkar and Subhash Lomate had been strong supporters of Yadav. Many of them had contested the Lok Sabha polls last year also.

Friction between the socialists and the other members of the party had always been a source of concern at all levels. Last year, founder members of the party Anjali Damania and Preeti Sharma-Menon had resigned from their respective positions in the party paving way for Ware and Abha Mulay to take over the reins of the state. Long time volunteers had resented the inclusion of the old school socialists in the party.

During the proceedings of the political affairs committee (PAC) of the party earlier this year, Gandhi had abstained from voting on the resolution to oust Yadav and Bhushan from the PAC while Ware had voted against it. Gandhi had questioned the way this resolution was done in his blog post subsequently.

At Saturday meeting, Bhapkar and Khan had walked out of the meeting while Ware, Gandhi had abstained from voting. Sharma-Menon who was present during the process said around three of the members from the state had abstained from voting in the process. “As our party is new and is filled with people high on emotions, we hope things will settle down in the given course of time,” she said.

Sharma-Menon talking about the state unit’s future said that senior leader Kumar Vishwas has been made in charge of the state unit and he would be visiting the state soon. Asked about her reaction to Patkar’s resignation, she termed it unfortunate and said Patkar should have spoken to the leaders of taking the decision.

While Ware could not be contacted over the phone, Abha Mulay said more clarity would come to the state unit once the dust settles down in Delhi. “The turn of events is unfortunate but for all of us Arvind Kejriwal is the leader,” she said. Many in the party unit said that they understood that Kejriwal should be allowed to work unfettered.