The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) averted a huge crisis on Wednesday, May 3, with Kumar Vishwas deciding to remain in the party. However, his bete noire Amanatullah Khan has been suspended from the party.
The announcement ends the suspense palpable since Tuesday evening, after Vishwas said that he would take a decision on quitting or remaining in the party. AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that Vishwas could be convinced to not leave the party.
On Wednesday, Vishwas attended a meeting on Wednesday afternoon with Kejriwal and fellow AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who is also Delhi deputy chief minister. After the meeting, he came out and said that he was satisfied with the "compromise" reached in the meeting. He also said that he would not quit the party because he was happy with the decision the AAP leadership had taken against those who had "conspired" against the party.
Sisodia also came out and announced that not only was Vishwas remaining in the party but also that he would head the Rajasthan unit of the AAP. Sisodia also said that Khan — the AAP MLA from Okhla who had accused Vishwas of trying to engineer a coup within the party — had been suspended.
Khan, it may be remembered, had already been forced to resign from the Political Affairs Committee of the AAP after he had levelled his accusations against Vishwas. That action had come in light of 30-35 AAP leaders complaining to Kejriwal against him. The suspension from the party is a further blow for Khan, who will probably now wish he had never accused Vishwas of looking to leave the AAP and join the BJP.
