Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's landing in Delhi kicked off a series of developments in the past 36 hours. Dissenting party leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav wrote a letter to the party's national convenor Kejriwal.
Sources confirm that, in the letter, they have offered to quit the party's national executive and all important posts, if Kejriwal accepts their terms. Namely, bring Swaraj into the party; regularise decision-making bodies such as the Parliamentary Affairs Committee; bring the party under RTI and make minutes of meetings available online; set up a communication network between volunteers and authority figures; give autonomy to state units; fill in the 7-8 posts lying vacant in the national executive for over two years in a manner that corrects the gender imbalance.
These points are similar to the ones Bhushan and Yadav raised in their previous letters to the NE before the March 4 meet, where they were voted out of the PAC. However, with offering to quit the NE, they have taken a high moral ground. To not look petty and rigid, Kejriwal will have to be open to talking things out. Perhaps that's why for the first time both sides are adopting a reconciliatory tone.
The letter was put forward this morning and, sources say, reactions from Kejriwal and national secretary, Pankaj Gupta, are awaited.
Since Kejriwal reached his residence 9pm on Monday, he has been pulling the strings to set the beleaguered party on course. He had meetings with the Delhi team, Sanjay Singh, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas, Ashish Khetan and Ashutosh, where he reportedly made clear his anger at public statement by all sides. The team then met Yadav at his residence around midnight for nearly three and half hours. Yadav told the media that the talks were "positive".
Party leader Sanjay Singh also told the media that talks went in a "good direction" and will probably lead to more. Yadav and Kejriwal met again on Tuesday when summoned by the Karkardooma court in a defamation case against them. Apparently, Yadav made it a point to shake Kejriwal's hand and sit next to him.
Sources say that Bhushan received a "warm" reply from Kejriwal to his text sent on Monday, which thanked Bhushan for his wishes for Kejriwal's health and said that they would "meet soon" as Kejriwal was currently busy with government business. Bhushan, reportedly, refused to meet anyone from the Delhi team, even though Khetan, a former friend, is said to have texted Bhushan in the afternoon.
How sincere efforts for truce are remains to be seen. Another round of negotiations are happening behind the scenes with representatives from both sides. Sources say Yadav suggested NE members professors Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha represent them. A PAC meeting is scheduled later at night at Kejriwal's residence where things will be further hashed out.
