Chandigarh: Setting a potentially dangerous precedent in the Aam Aadmi Party Punjab unit, comedian turned politician Gurpreet Singh Waraich alias Gurpreet Ghuggi announced his resignation from the party on Wednesday in a press conference here.
Waraich was earlier removed from the post of Convener in a party meeting held in Delhi on Tuesday. He had shown his displeasure on appointment of Bhagwant Mann as state party chief.
As per sources, the former AAP Punjab convener is already in touch with leaders of the Congress party and could join the party fold in the coming days. Waraich on his end, however, denied any moves to join any political party.
The AAP Punjab unit is going through a period of tumult with a number of elected representatives showing their displeasure with the party’s Delhi leadership whom they had earlier blamed for the party defeat in the state.
Waraich said the he was not against any one individual and did not oppose appointment of Bhagwant Mann. He opposed the process by which the party convener was appointed, wherein the leadership did not take into consideration the viewpoint of any other office bearer of the Punjab unit. He pointed out that he was removed from the post of Convener because he spoke against some of the senior party officials, especially the party’s Delhi observers.
Waraich said that the party seniors never showed him the bribe sting on the basis of which Sucha Singh Chhotepur was removed from the party. He tried to placate Chhotepur a number of times but it was not to be. The sting remained a mystery to him till date, he said.
He added that he had opposed Delhi leaders coming to Punjab from the very beginning and was made to pay the price.
Kejriwal had forgotten Punjab after the elections. Good people were stopped from joining the party during the elections and there was a sense of despondency. He said that he had put forward the name of Dharamvir Gandhi for the post of Punjab convener.
As per sources, Waraich’s resignation could possibly act as a trigger for a division in the Punjab unit with a group of MLAs led by Sukhpal Khaira already expressing opposition to the Delhi leadership. Khaira had walked out of the AAP meeting on Tuesday after Mann was announced as the Punjab Convener.