New Delhi : Dismissing reports that the AAP was holding talks with them for their return to the party, Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav and senior leader and advocate Prashant Bhushan on Monday ruling out such a possibility, said there was no communication with AAP founder member Kumar Vishwas.
Speaking to a news agency, Mr Yadav said, “I was surprised to read the claim that some Swaraj Abhiyan colleagues will join AAP again. I would be happy to know who these people are and what was their status in Swaraj Abhiyan.”
“I am equally surprised to hear that there are talks going between AAP and us. At least I do not know of such talks. I have not spoken to Kumar Vishwas or any AAP leader for over two years now. I see no point. All this is idle speculation,” Mr Yadav said.
Mr Bhushan retweeted a media report that quoted Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas as saying that the two were planning to rejoin AAP, terming it as “absurd”.
Kumar Vishwas on Sunday expressed displeasure over AAP’s functioning and said the party needed to go back to the basic idea of Swaraj, morality and inner democracy in the party.
He said the party workers were in talks with many colleagues who had since left the AAP, including Mr Bhushan and Mr Yadav, and apologised for any wrongs done by the party.
“There are no talks or possibility of our returning to AAP, which has betrayed all the ideals of anti-corruption movement,” he tweeted.
Mr Yadav also took to Twitter and said he was “surprised” on reading what Mr Vishwas had said a day before. “Really? Must be very secret, since both of us have not heard about it! In my knowledge, there is no possibility of this happening,” he said, in a series of tweets.
The two leaders were sacked from the AAP in March 2015 for alleged “anti-party activities”. The duo had hit out at CM Arvind Kejriwal over his “dictatorial style of functioning” and “lack of transparency” in the party.
In October 2016, the two launched a new political outfit Swaraj India. The AAP has decided to sack Mr Vishwas and the move by him is a bargaining tactic before the top leadership, sources said.
