Ashish Khetan vs the Bhushans: The politics of AAP just got dirtier

Even after rebel AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were shown the door, the war of words between the two factions within the party only got dirtier. It first started with former AAP leader and senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan accusing Ashish Khetan on Monday of planting stories in the Tehelka magazine favouring Essar.

“Ashish Khetan planted stories for Essar in Tehelka. He wrote stories in favour of 2G accused. Essar paid Tehelka Rs 3 crore for its Thinkfest,” Prashant told CNN-IBN . The senior lawyer also claimed that AAP’s Pankaj Gupta took Rs 2 crore from shell companies, which later on attracted the attention of the Income Tax department resulting in notices to the political outfit.

The exposure on the Rs 2 crore was made earlier by the rebel group Aam Aadmi Volunteer Action Manch.

Not one to sit quietly and lap up allegations, Khetan, a former Tehelka staffer, immediately asked if the source of funding of the burgeoning Bhushan empire was the Public Interest Litigation industry that Prashant was allegedly running.

“The Bhushan family has over Rs 500 crore worth property. I want to know whether this has been earned through PILs. If this is the case, then filing PIL is a big industry,” Khetan said on Tuesday, according to a Indian Today report .

Addressing a press conference today, he challenged Prashant saying that if the he remains unsuccessful in proving the allegations of paid news, the senior lawyer should quit public life. On the contrary, Khetan said that he would do the same if the allegations are proven to be true.

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Khetan signed off but not before warning the father-son duo that he won’t spare them as they have challenged a common man like himself.

However, Khetan’s counter-charge only made the battle uglier as veteran AAP leader Shanti Bhushan came out strongly in defence of his son Prashant.

“Ours is the most honest family in the country, nobody can question either Prashant’s or my integrity,” AAP founding member Shanti Bhushan told ANI while defending themselves made by AAP leader Ashish Khetan.

Reacting to his son Prashant being unceremoniously evicted from the Aam Aadmi Party, Shanti mocked the existing AAP leadership by asking them not to remain asleep but to expedite the process of throwing him out as well.

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“I too attended Swaraj Samvad and delivered a speech there, where is my show cause notice? I’m waiting for one,” he said.

The veteran leader did not spare AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by saying that he should start wearing Hitler’s uniform as he has already adopted the Nazi leader’s demeanour.

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“Arvind Kejriwal is certifying, if you believe in honesty you’ll be thrown out of the party,” Shanti, who also served as Union law minister before, told ANI.