AAP removes Ramdas as Lokpal Bhushan from disciplinary panel

New Delhi: Dissident AAP leader Prashant Bhushan was on Sunday removed from the party’s disciplinary committee which was reconstituted and internal Lokpal Admiral (retd) L Ramdas shunted out, a day after Bhushan and senior leader Yogendra Yadav were expelled from the National Executive (NE) for “backstabbing” and “hatching conspiraces”. 

At an “emergency” NE meeting here, the party removed Ramdas, a former navy chief, as internal Lokpal and set up a new Lokpal panel, comprising former IPS officers N Dilip Kumar and Rakesh Sinha besides educationist S P Verma. 

“All these people have given their consent to be part of the party’s Lokpal panel,” party’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta said. 

The AAP National Executive, while sacking Bhushan from the disciplinary committee, decided to replace him with a three -member panel headed by Dinesh Waghela. The other members are Arvind Kejriwal loyalist Ashish Khetan and Gupta. 

The removal of Ramdas came a day after he was sent an SMS by Gupta, asking him not to attend the National Council meeting to avoid “confrontation”. 

Miffed over the snub, he then wrote a letter to the Political Affairs Committee criticising the leadership. Kejriwal has been upset over missives sent by Ramdas and this led to he being asked not to attend the National Council meet. 

Ramdas said he had come from his village in Maharashtra to attend the meet. However, he said he would not attend the meet to “honour” the party’s request. 

Removal of Bhushan and Yadav from key panels is being seen as a precursor to their expulsion from the party. 

The two leaders yesterday termed the decision to remove them from the party’s national executive a “farce and illegal”, saying they might seek legal recourse. They also hinted at floating another party if required, claiming the support of a big section of AAP workers. 

The nearly month-long war between Kejriwal and the two leaders ended with a showdown on Saturday with the two founder-members being ousted in a 247-8 vote at the 311-member NC meet that was marred by chaos, charges and counter charges.