New Delhi: The expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan will on Tuesday hold a ‘Swaraj Samvad’ (open dialogue) here, undeterred by party leadership’s warning that disciplinary action can be taken against those attending the meet.
According to reports, the meet has been called by the duo to decide their future course of action after being expelled from the party’s decision-making bodies.
However, sources close to Yadav and Bhushan said the rebel camp will not announce floating of a new party, but will raise issues of inner-party democracy and transparency in the organisation at the event.
Yadav said they have received tremendous response from the volunteers across the country and this has compelled them to change the venue.
“The agenda for Swaraj Samvad will be plight and direction of the alternate politics. We will also discuss on what should the direction be,” he said.
The party said the entire convention will be streamed online.
Anand Kumar, another AAP leader who was expelled from the National Executive last month along with Ajit Jha, said they had intended to call the meeting after 2013 Delhi Assembly polls, but it got postponed due to various reasons.
AAP’s Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, tribal activist Soni Sori and rights activist Aruna Roy are expected to attend the event.
The Yadav and Bhushan camp has also said that over 100 candidates who had contested on AAP ticket in the Lok Sabha polls will attend the event.
Bhushan and Yadav, who are co-founders of the AAP along with party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have pledged to approach the Supreme Court and the Election Commission against their sacking.
The two have already hinted at floating another party, if required, and that the ‘Swaraj Samvad’ will decide their future course of action.
Yadav has been touring the country in order to garner maximum support.
Meanwhile, sending a strong warning to those wishing to attend the meet, the AAP said that it will be closely monitoring the outcome of the dialogue and the party’s political affairs committee and national executive will take suitable action.
“The Swaraj Samvad is just an attempt to break the party. They want people to think that the AAP has diverted from its principles. This is a parallel activity and we are in no way connected to them (Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan). We will be watching the outcome of their event. The party’s political affairs committee and national council will take suitable action,” senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said during a press conference, IANS reported.
