AAP's seven executive members resign in Haryana

Chandigarh: Calling AAP a "one-man party", seven out of ten executive members of the party in Haryana on Thursday resigned and showed full support towards Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan's rebel faction Swaraj Abhiyan.

They also took strong objection to Delhi legislator Naresh Balyan being appointed as Haryana affairs in-charge after the recent reshuffle in the party replacing expelled leader Yogendra Yadav.

Those who have resigned include chief spokesman of the party's state unit Rajiv Godara, Secretary of State unit Paramjit Singh, convener Ashawant Gupta besides Roopinder Dhaliwal, Balbir Singh, Prahlad Singh and Ramzan Chaudhary, said SP Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested 2014's Lok Sabha polls on the AAP ticket from Ambala.

"We cannot tolerate what is going on in the party. We have decided to support and strengthen the hands of Yogendra Yadav and the Swaraj Abhiyan started by him. We have also decided to hold a state level function on May 17 in Karnal, which will be a follow-up of the Abhiyan which was launched from Gurgaon on April 14," Singh said.

"The rebel group also showed their stern objection towards Balyan's appointment. Balyan faced serious allegations of storage of liquor to influence voters during the Delhi assembly polls," Singh said.

"So, it is contrary to AAP's principles to appoint him as the party's Haryana in-charge, till he gets a clean chit in the matter," said Rajiv Godara, a close associate of Yogendra Yadav.

Taking a dig at Kejriwal, SP Singh said, "we felt that it has become one-man party, where if a person who has a different view point, his voice is suppressed and stifled."

Singh added party high command's decision of not contesting the Haryana assembly polls in October in 2014 had also "demoralised the workers".

"As many as 95 per cent of our workers favoured to contest the assembly polls. Where is internal democracy, transparency, that we stood up for and formed the very basis of our existence. Now, a stage came that tainted people like Naresh Balyan are imposed on us," he said.