NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party’s parliamentary affairs committee dissolved the Maharashtra unit of the party on Thursday. While the official stand is that major restructuring is taking place across various states and the Maharashtra unit was not functioning well, sources have indicated that there were differences with National Executive member Mayank Gandhi who, while he is not being expelled from the party, has been given clear indications that he is being sidelined.

The message is also clear for the state unit which has supported Gandhi in the past, including convenor Subhash Ware who has been fighting on Gandhi’s behalf with the national party unit. National party secretary Pankaj Gupta has been made in-charge of the team under whom the reorganization will take place in the coming days.

Soon after the announcement, Gandhi tweeted: “Two types of politics - one that works with the people on ground and other that does ‘chaplusi’ in Delhi. The second type has won. Jai Ho! Beautifully functioning Maharashtra teams dissolved. Sad that politics has won!”

Gandhi, who campaigned for Kejriwal in Delhi in January this year, came in the line of fire after he supported Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav during their ouster from the party in April. He wrote a blog, criticizing the gag order that the party had supposedly issued to members against speaking out on the process of expulsion. The Maharashtra state unit too passed a resolution, standing by Gandhi and asking for the expelled members to be brought back. However, since then dissent had been festering in the state. “There have been various complaints against Gandhi by state members. He is one of the party founders and has contested Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai. There have also been allegations that he has been trying to establish a parallel body and volunteers were not happy with him,” said a senior party member.

Preeti Sharma Menon, national spokesperson and member of the Maharashtra state unit, said that the exercise was purely for organization building. “The Maharashtra unit has been lying practically defunct for about a year and there was urgent need to reorganize it. Volunteers are extremely happy with the move,” she said. Menon, who denied that this was a move against any particular individual, did acknowledge that volunteers had been dissatisfied with Gandhi who, as an NE member, had no business interfering in state affairs.

Gandhi, however, was more forthcoming. “This was meant as a punishment for me and the state unit for not toeing the line. In fact, when I visited Delhi earlier this year, I was asked by some senior members to resign which I refused to do. Some months back under mission vistar a new committee was set up, one of the best across the country in my opinion. The way in which it has been disbanded under a decision taken in Delhi with nobody coming down to the state to speak to any of us smacks of high command culture. Let the party decide whether they want to keep me or not because I will continue to voice my opinion. If AAP expels me, I will withdraw from politics,” he said.