Bhushan, Yadav accuse Kejriwal of "horse trading"

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav on Friday accused the party chief and the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of "horse trading" and said that he acted in an autocratic manner and refused to pay heed to opposing voices.

Bhushan, who along with Yadav addressed the media, said that despite the party's massive defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, AAP's national convener Arvind Kejriwal wanted to form a government in Delhi with the support of Congress, despite opposition from many.

"After the Lok Sabha elections there were talks that AAP should form government in Delhi with the support of Congress. A PAC meeting was called and five were opposed to the idea while four supported it," Bhushan said addressing the press conference.

"Arvind said that as national convener, he had the right to take the final decision and he has decided to take Congress' support to form the government in Delhi. However, we protested and the issue was then taken up at the National Executive. There too, the majority of members rejected the idea. Arvind said he never worked in an organisation where his writ didn't run," he said.

The AAP has been embroiled in an internal tussle after taking power in Delhi. The pro-Kejriwal camp has accused Bhushan and Yadav of trying to oust the chief minister. Both have denied the charge.

Yogendra Yadav said he along with fellow leader Prashant Bhushan were fighting to "save the soul of the struggle" that gave birth to the Aam Aadmi Party.

"It (AAP) is not an ordinary party, it was born out of a revolution to clean the system, end corruption and give power to the common people. People have high hopes from this party. But the developments in the last one month have disappointed many. We are fighting to save the soul of the struggle that gave birth to this party," Yadav said.

Emphasising the five demands -- transparency in the party, autonomy for local units, lokpal to probe graft charges, AAP should be open to RTI and no secreat ballots for key votes, Yadav said that if the party chief was ready to accept the five demands, he and Bhushan were ready to resign from all party posts.