National exec member Yamini Gomar quits AAP, terms it anti-Punjab and anti-Dalit
Being one of the prominent Dalit faces of the party, Gomar’s name was considered from Sham Chaurasi and Phagwara but she could not make it from either. Resentment was simmering in the party ever since the candidates were announced for the assembly seats but in the hope that senior leadership would lend them an ear, the disgruntled leaders had not resigned from the party. However, all hopes were dashed when party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who was in the city of Monday, did not make any efforts to placate them and instead expelled Jairath and Parihar.
In a jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its national executive member and Hoshiarpur candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls Yamini Gomar resigned from the primary membership of the party on Tuesday.
The move comes a day after the party expelled national executive member Naveen Jairth and NRI fundraising coordinator Virinder Parihar for anti-party activities. With this, the party is finding itself in a tight spot in Hoshiarpur as all three leaders belong to the district. Gomar, Jairath and Parihar were opposing the candidature of Paramjit Singh Sachdeva from the Hoshiarpur seat on the grounds that his name had surfaced in a multi-crore land acquisition scam.
Terming the party anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh at a press conference, Gomar, one of the founding members and a prominent Dalit face of the party, alleged that volunteers were being forced to work as slaves and it has become a private limited company of AAP’s Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh and head of the party’s national organisation-building head Durgesh Pathak.
“The party volunteers are not involved in the decision-making process and corrupt leaders from Delhi have captured state leadership,” Gomar, who was party’s spokesperson, alleged. She said party was giving tickets to corrupt and outsiders.
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She said Kejriwal was fooling people by promise that a Dalit would be made the deputy chief minister. The AAP convener refused to appoint Fatehgarh Sahib MP Harinder Singh Khalsa as leader of party parliamentary group because he was a Sikh and Dalit, she alleged.
Gomar’s name was considered from Sham Chaurasi and Phagwara seat but she could not make it from either. On being asked if she would join the Congress or the Akali Dal, Gomar said she would prefer to run her academy.
Former income tax chief commissioner LR Nayyar, who was also one of the founding members of the party, and AAP’s youth wing vice-president Baljit Singh from Gurdaspur also announced resignations from the party.
Resentment was simmering in the party ever since the candidates were announced for the assembly seats but in the hope that senior leadership would lend them an ear, the disgruntled leaders had not resigned. However, all hopes were dashed when party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who was in the city of Monday, did not make any efforts to placate them and instead expelled Jairath and Parihar.