It was the end of the road for Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) founder-leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, with the party expelling them for "anti-party activities".
Besides, Ajit Jha and Anand Kumar were also removed from the party.
The development came late on Monday night following separate replies of Bhushan and Yadav, to the show-cause notice for organising an anti-party meet in Gurgaon last week.
The National Disciplinary Committee met on 20 April, 2015 at 6 pm at 514, VP House to decide on the complaints against Yadav, Bhushan, Kumar and Jha.
On the request of the respondents, the committee had earlier extended the deadline for submitting their explanations by one day, that is, to 3 pm on 20 April, 2015.
However, the committee received the responses of Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar while Jha failed to furnish his response within the prescribed time.
The committee carefully considered responses furnished by Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar and found them unsatisfactory.
The committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities. They have violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of Party's Constitution.
The committee was of the view that Jha had failed to furnish his response in a stipulated time despite sufficient time at his disposal.
After examining the evidence put before it, the committee was of the unanimous view that Jha was also guilty of gross indiscipline and indulging in anti-party activities.
The committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party.
Earlier, Bhushan and Yadav described the party's show cause notice as a "pre-scripted drama where the outcome is already decided and well-known".
Bhushan accused AAP's general secretary Pankaj Gupta of accepting Rs.2 crore donation from shell companies and Ashish Khetan of writing a planted story in a national magazine defending a telecom company, allegedly involved in 2G spectrum scam.
He reiterated that the AAP's actions were reminiscent of Stalinist purges, where in the early years after the Soviet Revolution Stalin's acolytes were both the accusers and judges of the dissidents both in the party and the government.
"I received your 'Show Cause Notice' around midnight on April 17. Frankly, I have been in a dilemma on whether to respond to this communication. On the one hand it appears part of a pre-scripted drama where the outcome is already decided and well-known," Yadav said in his lengthy reply, indicating that he would be ousted from the party.
