Continuing the purge of dissidents in the party, the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday sacked its parliamentary party leader Dharamvira Gandhi, who had spoken against expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the national executive and replaced him with Arvind Kejriwal loyalist Bhagwant Mann.
The decision came hours after expulsion of Bhushan, Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha from the party late Monday night.
Gandhi, who had trounced Preneet Kaur in Patiala constituency in Lok Sabha polls last year, had been highly critical of the party leadership in the way Bhushan and Yadav had been removed from party's top echelons.
He had even walked out from the AAP's national council meeting on March 28 in protest and had sent his message to Swaraj Samvad Convention on April 14, organised by the rebel camp.
Defending the party's move of removing Gandhi, AAP leader Ashutosh said that the decision was taken by party's top decision-making body and it should be respected.
Attacking Bhushan and Yadav, Mann said that the two leaders had been sacked for carrying out anti-party activities.
"I have raised maximum questions, participated in maximum debates and raised concerns about the various bills in the House. If the party wants to give me more responsibilities, then I am ready to shoulder them," Mann said.
Mann, a member of Parliament from Sangrur in Punjab, had openly came in out in support of Kejriwal when the party was experiencing a bitter war between the two camps.
The comedian-turned politician is popular among the youngsters. He was the most sought after campaigner in Delhi assembly polls after Arvind Kejriwal, party sources said.
Photograph courtesy: Dharamvira Gandhi's Facebook page.
