AAP rift wide open: Amanatullah only a face of conspiracy against me, alleges Kumar Vishwas

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas on Tuesday alleged that Delhi MLA Amanatullah Khan, who had termed him an agent of the BJP and RSS and also accused him of attempting to break the party, was only a face of the “conspiracy” against him. 

Talking to reporters, an emotional Kumar Vishwas said he will take a decision on his further action today evening, triggering speculation that he could well decide to quit the party he was a founding member of.

There are several reasons being cited for Vishwas's discontent with his party. Amanatullah continues to be in the party despite calling him names, he was, allegedly so, even sidelined by the AAP during the recently concluded Assembly polls and the MCD elections in the national capital and he has been purportedly asked to apologise for speaking pout publically against the party line.

Today, without naming Amanatullah, Vishwas said a leader who had come to the AAP from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) was levelling serious charges against him. 

“6-7 years ago, three friends -- me, Manish (Sisodia) and Arvind (Kejriwal) – had planned an anti-corruption movement which we took to Ramlila Maidan. 3-4 days ago, an MLA who had come to our party from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) alleged that I am a BJP agent.

“I thought if he had said the same thing against my friends Arvind or Manish, he would have been sacked from the party within 10 minutes, action would have taken against him,” the poet-turned-politician said. 

"Amid all this, I talked to Sanjay (Singh), Manish and Arvind and I thought he would be sacked. If someone says something like this about Manish and Arvind, would not tolerate it. MLAs were saying he should be sacked, workers were saying he should be sacked," he said. 

As the row escalated, Amanatullah yesterday resigned from the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) though he continues to hold other party positions. 

Hinting that someone else was behind Amanatullah and he was only the face of someone else's voice, Vishwas said, "But when he again said it yesterday, I realised this is not a voice of a person who had come from Ram Vilas Paswan’s party (LJP). I realised he is just a mask, someone else is behind this voice. Then I realised that the questions I raised after 6 consecutive losses was aimed right."

On the charges that even he had also spoken in public, Vishwas said he would not apologise for speaking in favour of the country and the armed forces. He was referring to a video titled "We the Nation" that he had posted last month after a clip that showed some youths assaulting soldiers on their way to poll duty in Srinagar on April 9.

"Now it is being said that I also spoke in public and my video generated problems. I want to say that the "We the Nation" was not my voice, it was the voice of every Indian. I want to clarify that if anyone gets offended by me for raising the voice of the nation, be it a party or government, I won't stop raising the voice," Vishwas said.

Vishwas also sought to douse any speculation regarding his supposed ambitions saying neither does he harbour any ambitions to become Chief Minister or deputy CM nor does he want to join another party. His clarification came amid rumours of Vishwas triggering a split in the party and lead a revolt against Kejriwal that would see him take power. There were also talks of his growing proximity to the BJP. An AAP worker even alleged that Vishwas had claimed to be in direct touch with NSA Ajit Doval.    

Reacting to the statement made by Vishwas today, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said he was very upset with this as any matter should be raised on appropriate party platform only.

He refused Kumar's claim that he was asked to apologise for anything. 

"I am very upset with Kumar Vishwas. Any matter concerning the party should be raised on appropriate party platform. Morale of the party workers get affected by such statements to media," Sisodia said. 

On Sunday, Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan had alleged that Kumar Vishwas was conspiring to break the party on the behest of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). He had circulated a WhatsApp message saying Vishwas had called some AAP MLAs to his home with the offer at the behest of the BJP.

When contacted by indiatvnews.com, Khan said he stands by the statement that he made against Kumar Vishwas. 

“I stand by my statement. I was told by MLAs that they were approached by him (Kumar Vishwas). I have told Arvind ji that he would realise later that he (Vishwas) is planted by the RSS and the BJP,” he said. 

Khan said he was told by the party not to say anything in public and raise the issue only in the PAC. 

“I was asked not to say anything in public outside PAC so I resigned. I was not asked to resign but I did it on my own,” Khan said. 

He said that Vishwas had done the same thing and spoken in media against the party on issues like EVM tampering allegations.