Ashutosh, a journalist-turned-politician of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), resigned on Wednesday (August 15). The former Indian TV journalist cited personal reasons behind his resignation.
"Every journey has an end. My association with AAP which was beautiful/revolutionary has also an end.I have resigned from the PARTY/requested PAC to accept the same. It is purely from a very very personal reason.Thanks to party/all of them who supported me Throughout.Thanks," Ashutosh tweeted.
Ashutosh Gupta, who dropped his last name for political reasons, has requested the media to not approach him regarding his resignation.
To media friends. Please respect my privacy. I won’t be giving any bite of any kind. Please cooperate.
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) August 15, 2018
Reports have said that the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has not yet accepted the resignation.
Ashutosh was the managing editor of TV18 group for a long time before he stepped into politics and Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. He was fielded by the AAP from Chandni Chowk during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He contested against Kapil Sibal of Congress and Harsh Vardhan of the BJP.
Though the AAP leader has cited political reasons, few are of the opinion that Ashotosh resigned due to a fallout when he was not offered a seat in the Rajya Sabha by the party.
In fact, Ashutosh, who is Kejriwal's close confidant, had been unhappy over the party's choice of two of the three nominees to the Upper House, reported News 18. Reports have also said that he was on a leave for two months and was keeping away from AAP's activities.
International Business Times India reached out to Prithvi Reddy, the National Executive of the Aam Aadmi Party to know more about Ashutosh's resignation but the call did not go through.
