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Punjab AAP leaders write to Kejriwal, want chief Chhotepur sacked
NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing another internal crisis in Punjab, with the New Delhi-based high command contemplating replacing its state convener Sucha
NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing another internal crisis in Punjab, with the New Delhi-based high command contemplating replacing its state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur over charges of alleged corruption.
A decision will be taken at a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC)—AAP’s highest decision making body—on Friday, sources confirmed.
Senior party leaders from Punjab have written a letter to Arvind Kejriwal, the party’s national convener, seeking investigation into the charges and “exemplary action”.
In the letter, signed by HS Phoolka, Himmat Singh Shergill and Faridkot MP Bhagwant Mann among others, the Punjab leaders have invoked the party’s “zero tolerance policy towards corruption and demanded that action be taken if he is found guilty”, Mann told HT.
Chhotepur is shown receiving a packet containing cash from a man in a purported sting video which is now with the party’s leaders.
In an interview to HT on Tuesday, Chhottepur did not deny the authenticity of the video but said accepting cash did not prove a quid pro quo and that it was for the party’s fund in Punjab.
Chhotepur refused to comment on the letter, but said he would give his side of the story on Friday at a press conference in Chandigarh after the PAC meeting.
“There is nothing in the socalled sting operation against me. I will reveal the details I have tomorrow,” he said.
The party’s Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh and his deputy Durgesh Pathak have been at loggerheads with Chhotepur over the past few weeks over selection of candidates in the state.
Sources in the party said the PAC could replace Chhotepur— for criticising party’s choice of candidates in Punjab recently—with lawyer Himmat Singh Shergill, who had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Anandpur Sahib. He enjoys a good equation with both Singh and Pathak.
