A 'mistimed' appointment lands AAP in crisis

What should have been a simple matter of a miscommunication over an appointment sought by a Rajya Sabha member to meet the president of her party has turned into a bitter political war between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership, including President Arvind Kejriwal and senior minister Atishi, on one side, and the Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi, Swati Maliwal, on the other.

-  ADITI PHADNIS

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, has waded into the controversy at the height of election season with the Congress being dragged into it indirectly. Some associated with AAP in its earlier days describe it as the manifestation of a leadership tussle in the party.

Maliwal began her career as convener of the volunteers who were the backbone of India Against Corruption (IAC), a movement whose guiding light was Anna Hazare. She was an associate member of the core committee and used to be invited to sit in all the meetings and was one of those who voted in favour of turning the Hazare-Kejriwal-led agitation into a political party. So, in a sense, she was one of the junior founder-members of AAP.

"In recognition of her work during IAC and the mobilisation during the Nirbhaya case, she was made chief of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW)," said Sunita Godara, a marathon runner and Asian Games gold medallist who was a member of the IAC core committee.

Godara had dissociated herself from the move to launch AAP, but knows most members who opted to become part of the party at the time.

"I have no doubt that when she was prevented from meeting him (Kejriwal), she felt humiliated," Godara said.