Not alone, many AAP members unhappy with Kejriwal: Binny

A day after being expelled from the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi MLA Vinod Kumar Binny said there were many more members within the party who were upset with the party’s leadership and policies. [caption id=“attachment_1360651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny. PTI[/caption] “I have been told that there are many members who are upset with the party’s policies and are backing me,” Binny told reporters this morning. Binny will be meeting Lt Governor Najeeb Jung later today to discuss the controversy surrounding Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti. He is also likely to go on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar to protest against the government’s failure to fulfil its promises made to the people. When questioned about the expulsion, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his party was in power to govern and not to play politics. “No government has done as much as we have in the last one month… we don’t indulge in the politics of number crunching to stay in power,” he said. Meanwhile, the BJP has come out in support of the disgruntled MLA saying the issues he has raised are crucial and the government must answer them. “What he has raised are the same questions people across the country want answers from… the AAP government must answer,” BJP leader Harsh Vardhan told reporters today. Another BJP leader VK Malhotra said the BJP had its doors open to Binny and he could join them at anytime. “If he (Binny) comes to BJP, we will welcome him,” Malhotra told a news channel. On Sunday night,  Binny described his ouster from the party as ‘unfortunate’, and claimed that the ruling party in Delhi “wants the government to fall” to escape the promises it has made to the people. “It cannot be more unfortunate than the fact that you need somebody to make you realise the promises you have made to the public and you end up expelling that person from the party,” the Laxmi Nagar MLA told reporters soon after he was expelled from the party. Before evicting me you (AAP) should have ousted those people from the party who talked about dividing the nation, those who misbehaved with women, those who made fun of the laws of the land and disobeyed the rules, he said. On being asked why he was expelled from the party, he said, “I feel they want that the government falls and they are saved from the people whom they promised many things. I want to say that Vinod Kumar Binny will vote on those issues that the party is hiding from.” “I would not allow them to run away from the promises they made to the public,” he said. The party had announced Binny’s expulsion in a brief statement. “This disciplinary committee has decided to expel Vinod Kumar Binny and terminate his primary membership from the party, for publicly making false statements against the party and its leadership, thereby bringing disrepute to the party,” the party said in a statement. The committee was headed by Pankaj Gupta and other members included Ashish Talwar, Illyas Azmi, Yogendra Yadav and Gopal Rai. The party said Binny has been sent a letter informing decision of the party. 39-year-old Binny, a former Congressman, had held a press conference on 16 January in which he had attacked Kejriwal and the party leaders, accusing them of “deviating” from the core principles of the party. Subsequently, AAP had issued a showcause notice to him for violating the code of conduct under Section 6(1)(a) of the party constitution. In his press conference, Binny had slammed the leadership on a range of issues and said taking support of Congress to form the government was a “compromise of the party’s principles”. He had said the party has “forgotten” its ideologies and become “an opportunist outfit” after coming to power. “They are using policy of use and throw. First, they have used Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi and still many people in the party are being exploited,” he had said. Binny said though the party during the election campaign had promised to provide 700 litres of free water to each household, the government “very cleverly” announced that those exceeding the limit will have to pay for the full amount. Rubbishing the MLA’s criticism, Kejriwal had said that Binny had come to him for ministership and later he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls. Binny had termed Kejriwal’s statement on his seeking Lok Sabha ticket as the “biggest lie”. Binny had alleged that AAP “does not function democratically” and four-five people take all the decisions in the party. He had claimed that Kejriwal gets angry if people do not agree with him. With PTI inputs