88. AAP suspends Manjit Singh

·        HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Chandigarh

·        Updated: Apr 03, 2015 18:16 IST

 The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday suspended Manjit Singh (in picture), a retired sociology professor from Panjab University, from the party for his “anti-party activities”.

 Announcing this, AAP’s Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur said Manjit was openly giving statement against senior party leaders in the media for which he had been suspended and served a showcause notice for his removal from the party.

When contacted, Manjit said he had no intimation about his suspension and got to know about it from outside sources.

“The way the party is throwing out its leaders unceremoniously, without letting them know any charges framed against them, is a big threat to the basic idea of ‘swaraj’ put forth by the party supremo Arvind Kejriwal,” said.

Manjit was one of the spokespersons of AAP in Punjab and Chandigarh.

Seen as part of the camp of fellow academician Yogendra Yadav, who was also recently ousted from key AAP posts, Manjit was not present at a recent cycle rally of AAP leader HS Phoolka at its conclusion in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Yadav-aligned volunteers of the region is scheduled to be held on April 7 in Chandigarh, and is in preparation for larger meeting of the Yadav camp in Delhi on April 14. Speculations are that the Yadav-Prashant Bhushan camp would announce formation of a forum or even a party then.

When contacted, Gul Panag, AAP’s local Lok Sabha candidate last year and now part of an anti-pollution task force of the Kejriwal-led Delhi government, said, “I am not aware of the circumstances under which this decision has come. It is an internal matter and I will discuss it at the appropriate forum.”