No rift within party over ticket distribution: AAP
‘All issues will be discussed in National Executive meet after polls’
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday denied reports of rift between its chief Arvind Kejriwal and senior leader Prashant Bhushan over ticket distribution saying the party's internal Lokpal had filtered all the candidates before clearing their names.
The party also played down Bhushan's remarks over holding a National Executive meet to discuss "all issues" after the Delhi Assembly elections terming it a "routine" exercise.
"Am not talking about internal issues. All issues will be discussed in National Executive meet after polls," Bhushan told reporters at Kannur.
A senior AAP leader strongly emphasised that there were no differences in opinion between Kejriwal and Bhushan.
"Has he said anywhere in the public domain that he is unhappy with the party leadership? The top body of every party meets after elections to discuss issues within the party. We met after the Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections as well," he said.
Addressing a press conference, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that the party's internal ombudsman had rejected two candidates after a rigorous filtering.
"We have a three-member internal complaints committee and a Lokpal. The Lokpal decided to reject the names of two candidates a day before the nomination process was to end and as per the party constitution the decision of the Lokpal is final," he said.
The reports come days after party patriarch Shanti Bhushan called for the replacement of Kejriwal as the party chief.
Prashant Bhushan earlier dubbed as "opportunistic" Kiran Bedi's decision to join BJP and contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls as its chief ministerial candidate, saying it went "sharply against" her earlier stand on electoral politics.
"When Bedi was invited to join the Aam Admi Party (AAP) when it was formed, she said she was not interested in electoral politics. Now, she has joined the BJP and agreed to be its chief ministerial candidate. This is opportunism," Bhushan, a founder leader of AAP, told reporters at Kannur.