Another jolt for AAP, Manav Kamble resigns

In his resignation letter, Kamble blamed Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas and others for the state of affairs in the party.

Troubles for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state show no sign of abating as senior leader Manav Kamble tendered his resignation from the primary membership of the party. In his resignation note, Kamble claimed that the party has become the ‘B’ team of RSS and has gone astray from its original principles.

Following the expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and other senior leaders from the party, the Maharashtra unit of AAP has been clearly divided. Leaders like Maruti Bhapkar, Ibrahim Khan, Lalit Babar and others had openly sided with Yadav. In fact, Bhapkar and others had joined Yadav during the first Swaraj Samvad held in Delhi. Kamble, a long time associate of Bhapkar, had also been openly siding with the rebel team.

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In his resignation letter, Kamble blamed Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas and others for the state of affairs in the party. Kamble stated that although he knew about the anti-reservation stance of Kejriwal, he had joined the party as progressive leaders like Yadav and others were part of it. “By expelling the liberal and forward-thinking leaders the party has shown that it is working with an agenda and it is the B team of RSS,” he said.

The letter said that links of Kejriwal and Vishwas with RSS were well documented and had been reported numerous times.

“The expulsion of Yadav and other leaders was the result of a calculated conspiracy. The party has lost its moral fortitude,” Kamble said. Instead of internal democracy, the party had become a one-man show and criticism of Kejriwal was not allowed in the party, the letter added.

Other than being an important Dalit leader, Kamble was also a member of Mission Vistar which was set up to increase the reach of the party. As a social worker, Kamble had taken up issues in Pimpri Chinchwad and was part of agitations for rights of the physically challenged.

Meanwhile, the rebel faction of the party has organised a Swaraj Samvad programme in Thane on Saturday and the state executive is scheduled to meet in Pune on Friday. Repeated attempts to reach the state coordinator Subhash Ware failed.

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Aam Aadmi Party