In a fresh setback to Aam Aadmi Party, four candidates including those pitted against high-profile opponents like central ministers Salman Khurshid and Sachin Pilot withdrew nominations on Monday citing lack of party support or alleging corruption in the party.
Candidates from Farukkhabad, Etah and Agra in Uttar Pradesh and Ajmer in Rajasthan withdrew, giving credence to criticism that the party had spread itself too thin and was unable to offer significant support to its candidates or has not been able to vet them adequately.
The withdrawals come after AAP expelled some UP activists following allegations of bribes being sought for tickets and an uneven response to the party's national campaign apart from some exceptions like Chandigarh.
Journalist-turned-social activist Mukul Tripathi, contesting against foreign minister Salman Khurshid, withdrew his candidature saying, "I have returned the ticket and left the party as I am not getting any support from the organization... There is corruption in the internal organization.''
He claimed that his attempts to reach AAP leader Sanjay Singh proved futile and he had spent money out of his own pocket.
Tripathi's withdrawal is a blow to AAP since he was responsible for bringing to light an alleged scam regarding purchase of equipment for the differently-abled by Khurshid-led Zakir Hussain Trust. Others like Dilip Yadav from Etah, Ravinder Singh from Agra and Ajay Somani from Ajmer have also dropped out.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) got a shot in arm in Thoothukudi with the Roman Catholic (RC) Fathers and fishermen community from across the district decided to extend support to the three coastal leaders, Pushparayan, Jesuraj and S P Udayakumar, contesting on AAP ticket.
A decision to this effect was taken at an indoor meeting, presided by Father William Santhanam, held here on Monday in which 26 Fathers attached to various churches, in which members of Fishermen United Front (Meenavar Iyikiya Munnani) also participated.
Jethmalani claimed that one of the founders of AAP advocate Prashant Bhushan himself told him that "AAP is the B-team of Congress" and they were "working" for Rahul Gandhi."This man (Kejriwal) and his party are nothing but B-team of Congress," he said.
He said Kejriwal had written 16 questions to Modi but why he did not ask anything from Congress. "It is because they both are same", he said.
I wrote the book, Bharatiya Raj Vyawastha, with 10 years’ experience of my social life. I met eminent lawyers, socialists, constitutional experts and many more before writing the book. My book "Bharatiya Raj Vyawastha" was published by Neha Publications, Delhi in Feburary 2012. In a good faith of IAC movement, I had presented the book to Kejriwal in March, 2012. But I was shocked to see, my enitre book was stolen and republished by Arvind Kejriwal as Swaraj in July 2012 by HarperCollins. Kejriwal has illegally published my book in his own name and has added some Government documents to mislead the people.