The out-and-out rebellion in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has proven that Arvind Kejriwal has lost all credibility and is a spent force in Punjab, according to the Punjab Congress.Kejriwal should himself leave Punjab for good before he is thrown out by his own party workers, said the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), adding that the AAP leader had no face left to show in the state after the shocking revelations of corruption, drugs and sex scandals in the party.In a statement issued here on Sunday, a day after AAP rebels burnt Kejriwal’s effigy and announced their decision to contest all the 117 Assembly seats in the state, the Punjab Congress said the development has vindicated its stand on AAP being a group of corrupt people, who are eyeing the state elections to further their personal interests.
While individual AAP rebels had been making serious allegations against the party leadership, including Kejriwal, the collective rebellion, as manifest in Saturday’s meeting of rebels in Jalandhar, has completely exposed the party’s hollowness as an organization, said PPCC leaders Karar Kaur Brar, Mohd. Sadique and Razia Sultana.If the party’s own workers and volunteers had no faith in the AAP leadership, and were openly accusing it of involvement in serious charges of corruption and sex scandals, as well as drugs, how could the people of Punjab have faith in it, the PPCC leaders asked.The PPCC leaders reiterated that Kejriwal, and his party, had absolutely no standing in Punjab, with not an iota of credibility left to contest the upcoming polls. “Why don’t you leave Punjab gracefully instead of waiting to be unceremoniously thrown out,” they asked the AAP leader.Citing the statements of AAP rebels at Saturday’s meeting, the PPCC leaders pointed out that it had become more than self-evident that the party was selling tickets to tainted and corrupt candidates, as well as to outsiders, whom the voters of Punjab would not accept at any cost.“Your efforts to befool the people of the state by projecting an honest and clean image have been thoroughly exposed,” said the PPCC leaders, adding that the voters of Punjab had seen through Kejriwal’s pseudo image and were no longer willing to accept him on his face value.