End of Kejriwal's unchecked power: AAP reboots, heeds Yogendra Yadav

New Delhi: Chastened by a spate of in-house rebellions, continuing questions on its leadership structure and a not-so-impressive general election debut, the Aam Aadmi Party has finally initiated the process of getting its house in order. The party, which made a stunning debut in the Delhi assembly elections in December last year, appeared to be withering away under pressure from several forces, mostly from within, and its own state of disorganisation. The decisions at the three-day national executive meeting might help the one-year-old outfit settle down as a serious political party. [caption id=“attachment_1536031” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Arvind Kejriwal. Reuters[/caption] The meeting which concluded yesterday will, in all likelihood, provide a fresh breather to the party as it decided to dissolve the controversy-prone political affairs committee, a 10-member body. It had attracted a lot of criticism from top leaders, including the party’s intellectual face Yogendra Yadav and one of its original members, Shazia Ilmi, for its style of functioning. It will be reconstituted at a later date and made more representative in character. The party’s decision to start ‘Mission Vistaar’ aims at extending its reach across the country. The mission will see AAP workers and volunteers reaching out, as the party claims, “to every single voter on booth level”. It also aims at building party units starting from the district level to the national level and creating a cadre base from the grassroots. From the decisions taken in the conference, it seems the allegations that Yogendra Yadav recently raised had been given a lot of attention. Yadav questioned the legitimacy of the unbridled power bestowed on the Political Affairs Committee while he argued for the national executive body also. Now the party, it seems, has heeded Yadav’s concern as it has pumped in more than 20 new faces in the national executive committee while dissolving the old PAC. “It’s time for a restructure. The party will be restructured from the booth to national level,” informed AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. To overlook a restructure in the leadership, the party has already set up a committee comprising senior members such as Anand Kumar, Parveen Amanullah and Anjali Damania and a few others. According to sources, the main objective of this committee will be to look out for mass leaders in every state. “The party has always shunned the concept of a central leadership. After Yogendra Yadav questioning the unchecked power that was given to Kejriwal, we want to focus more on decentralising it and bring in new faces,” said a former PAC member. Earlier, Anand Kumar had told Firstpost that after the Lok Sabha polls the motto of the party would be to reach out to the last person on the ground. Kumar, who himself comes from a socialist and leftist background, has emphasised on the importance of inducing farmers’ groups and labour organisations. “We don’t want to do the traditional labour politics but there is a need to include these people as they constitute the largest votebank in this country,” said Kumar. He mentioned that the Maruti workers’ association in Gurgaon has always asked the AAP to support its movement. According to Kumar, the next five years when there is no election will be crucial for the formation of the party. According to sources, the recent news of the entire Bengal unit of AAP merging with BJP has created an uncomfortable situation. “Arvind Kejriwal has to travel all across to unite our volunteers. Many of our candidates in the Lok Sabha election showed displeasure because Kejriwal barely campaigned for individual candidates,” said a Delhi candidate. However, the silver lining for the party remains that in its first election it has managed to get four parliament seats. All four MPs from Punjab have been accommodated in the new 33-member national executive body, which clearly signifies the party’s intention of expanding. The Delhi numbers - it secured close to 33 percent of the vote share leaving the Congress far behind - have also kept the party hopeful.