In what has brought the internal rift within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the fore, one of its prominent faces and its MLA from Lakshmi Nagar Vinod Kumar Binny on Thursday launched a major assault on the party led by Arvind Kejriwal and called him a “dictator.”
Binny, who was reported to be upset with the AAP apex leadership ever since he was denied the cabinet berth, accused the party of “cheating” the people of Delhi by backtracking on its election promises.
The Laxmi Nagar MLA 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”.
“You (Kejriwal) have become a dictator. Stop fooling the people of Delhi. All decisions in the party are taken in closed rooms by four-five people. Arvind gets angry if people express any differences with him. If anyone speaks against him, he starts shouting,” Binny said in his highly packed press conference.
The 39-year-old-MLA said the party has “forgotten” its ideologies and become “an opportunist outfit” after coming to power.
Posing tough questions on a wide range of issues before the AAP leadership, Binny also threatened to go on a hunger strike from January 27 if Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not fulfil promises made in the election manifesto.
Binny, who made serious allegations against Kejriwal and his party, said that the outfit has a secret deal with Congress and it is acting on its dictates.
Binny even attacked the Arvind Kejriwal-led government for backtracking on the promises made on issues, including free water supply and cheap power.
Binny, while asking the media to conduct a comprehensive survey to find out what people of Delhi want, also assured that if he is found to be lying, he would resign as MLA.
“I will start an agitation 10 days later on Jan 27, at Jantar Mantar, if the government does not fulfil the promises made to the people of Delhi,” said the AAP legislator at a press conference here.
Listing his demands, he said he wants the party government to pass Anna Hazare’s version of the Jan Lokpal Bill by Jan 25 or 26, and also start building a women commando force for women’s security.
“You (Kejriwal) have done a lot of agitation against the Congress and the BJP. Now you have to explain and show the people how your thought is different from theirs.”
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party in the Delhi assembly polls with 31 seats, the AAP – which bagged 28 seats – formed a minority government with the outside support of Congress’s eight legislators.
Binny, who defeated Congress heavyweight AK Walia in the December assembly elections, said that according to his sources, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal is very close to Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit.
“This is the reason all the decisions being taken in AAP are at the directive of the Congress party. The Congress is ordering, and AAP is following orders,” Binny claimed.
“We had announced publicly that we would not give or take support of any political party. Then what prompted the party to change that decision? Discussions were held behind closed doors,” Binny said.
On the electricity front, Binny said that the government “defrauded” the people of Delhi as the party had promised to halve the bills after coming to power.
“The party has misled the people of Delhi on a number of issues. There is a big mismatch between what the party promised and what the government is doing. People’s issues have gone to the background,” he said.
