New Delhi, March 11: The Aam Aadmi Party appears to be imploding
less than a month since it came to office with a landslide victory,
after a purported audio-tape leak today brought Arvind Kejriwal
under a horse-trading cloud.The tape of a purported conversation
between Kejriwal and then party MLA Rajesh Garg in November, in
which the AAP chief is heard asking Garg to poach Congress MLAs to
form the government in Delhi, was aired on television channels
today.The party has not denied the tape's authenticity. Garg said
the conversation was genuine and that he had taped it, and had
given the tape to party leader Kumar Vishwas after he asked for
it.Vishwas could not be reached on the phone for his reaction. But
in tweets tonight, he called Garg a "failed conspirator" and said
he had "forwarded the audio clip to the party on the same day you
tried to blackmail me with the same".The leak had an immediate
impact. Anjali Damania, a prominent AAP leader from Maharashtra,
resigned from the party and tweeted: "I quit.. I have not come into
AAP for this nonsense. I believed him.. I backed Arvind for
principles not Horse-trading."The resignation left many stunned
because just two days ago Damania had expressed solidarity with
Kejriwal and slammed rebel leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant
Bhushan for conspiring to defeat the party in Delhi.DamaniaAn open
letter by Yadav and Bhushan to party volunteers, which was a
point-by-point rebuttal of the "anti-party" charges levelled
against them by Kejriwal loyalists, capped the day's events.The
developments came a day after Kejriwal loyalists set in motion the
process to expel the two founding members. The Kejriwal faction
today launched a signature drive to remove Yadav and Bhushan from
the party and more than 60 Delhi MLAs are learnt to have signed.The
tape leak was being seen as the duo's attempt to hit back."We are
ready to form the government, but Congress is not ready to support
us.... Do one thing, split the Congress and ask their six MLAs to
float a new party and support us," Kejriwal is purportedly heard
saying on the tape.AAP spokesperson Ashish Khetan did not question
the tape's authenticity but denied charges of horse-trading. "Even
if we assume the tape is authentic, where does it suggest that
monetary gains were offered by AAP in exchange of support?" he
asked.Garg, who said he always had his phone on recording mode,
said the conversation with Kejriwal took place just before the
Delhi Assembly was dissolved. "The recording is completely
authentic. I gave this recording to Kumar Vishwas only. I am
surprised how this recording has reached every TV channel," he
said.The former MLA from Rohini was denied a party ticket this
time, raising the suspicion that he had joined the anti-Kejriwal
faction.After the tape controversy erupted and Damania resigned,
Yadav uploaded on his Twitter and Facebook accounts an open letter
to party volunteers. The letter, from him and Bhushan, alleged that
after the drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections Kejriwal had decided
to seek Congress support a second time to form the government in
Delhi but that they had opposed it."Now we leave this decision to
you, whether it was proper or not on our part to oppose the
decision? Would it be possible for us to win the faith of Delhiites
again had we taken Congress support and formed the government?" the
letter asked, clearly aiming to win the sympathy of volunteers.The
two leaders hope to garner enough support to split the party, if
not in Delhi, then in other states, sources said.Kejriwal is in
Bangalore, undergoing naturopathy treatment. A five-bedroom
bungalow in Civil Lines, north Delhi, with a lawn that can
accommodate some 300 people is being readied for him and his
family. Kejriwal is likely to move into it on March 17.
