Arvind Kejriwal: Kumar Vishwas is like a brother to me, no rift in AAP

Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on Sunday that party leader Kumar Vishwas is like a brother to him and some people are trying to create a rift between them. The tweet comes just ays after Vishwas said it was unfair to blame EVMs for the AAP loss in the Delhi municipal polls and after an AAP MLA accused Vishwas of trying to break up the party at the behest of the BJP.

कुमार मेरा छोटा भाई है। कुछ लोग हमारे बीच दरार दिखा रहे हैं,ऐसे लोग पार्टी के दुश्मन हैं !वो बाज़ आयें। हमें कोई अलग नहीं कर सकता

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 30, 2017

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that Kumar Vishwas was conspiring to break the party and had asked some legislators to join the BJP with an offer of Rs 30 crore each.

This prompted Kejriwal to say that attempts were being made to create a rift between him and Kumar Vishwas, one of the founders of the AAP and a long-time friend of both Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.

Khan circulated a WhatsApp message saying Kumar Vishwas had called some AAP MLAs to his home with the monetary offer at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“Kumar Vishwas called some MLAS and asked them that he should be made the party convenor,” said the legislator from Okhla in south Delhi. Kumar Vishwas gave them the second offer “to join the BJP which was ready to pay Rs 30 crore to each one of them.”

“I think all this is being done at the behest of the BJP,” Khan said, adding four AAP MLAs had been tasked with arranging meetings of the party legislators with Kumar Vishwas.

The four MLAs also held a meeting with an unnamed minister, Khan said, citing 10 unnamed MLAs who “revealed this to me”.

“Some people are trying to show that there is a gulf between us. These people are enemies of the party. They should mend their ways. Nobody can separate us.”

Khan confirmed that he had circulated the message because “Kumar Vishwas wants to usurp and break the AAP”.

In a TV interview on Friday, Kumar Vishwas said the party won’t hesitate in taking a call on change in its leadership after its poor show in Delhi municipal polls.

The AAP finished much behind the BJP in all three wings of the municipal corporation. The Congress finished at the bottom of the heap.

Recently, Delhi minister Kapil Mishra joined several AAP members in calling for introspection over the party’s rout in the MCD polls, saying the loss cannot be blamed only on EVMs even as the party leadership alleged “rigging” of voting machines.

“This is the time to introspect why we had to see this day after two years. Whether it is a Modi wave or not, it has become clear that people have not voted for us. Today’s reality is we have got very few seats in comparison to the massive mandate we got in 2015. The results cannot be viewed only by blaming the EVMs,” Mishra said.

He also admitted that looking at poll results, a “BJP wave” exists in Delhi.

With inputs from agencies