NEW DELHI: Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who sided with Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan when Aam Aadmi Party split after the Delhi elections, criticized his party on Thursday for straying from its principles of clean politics. Raising concerns about the government’s expenditure on advertisements, a huge staff and 21 parliamentary secretaries, Pushkar said AAP was heading down a slippery slope.

Pushkar alleged he was being harassed in petty ways. He said he was not allowed to address a press conference he had called on Wednesday. Later, there were two power cuts, the first of which occurred only at his press conference venue. “I had given information in writing to the authorities concerned on Wednesday, and even have a receipt to prove it. However, this afternoon when I reached the Vidhan Sabha I was told that they had no information of any press conference. I have been asking to meet the chief minister and the deputy chief minister for the past month but they apparently do not have time,” he said.

He also spoke against the passage of The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 during the recently concluded assembly session without a proper discussion. “When the government says they (parliamentary secretaries) have not been given any perks, that’s not entirely true. They have been given rooms in the Vidhan Sabha, vehicles for official use etc.”

Pushkar added he was extremely disappointed with the publicity the government was trying to generate through radio and television ads. “In the short ad on TV, Arvind Kejriwal has been named 11 times, not the party or government or the party volunteers,” he said.

Pushkar was strongly critical of Kejriwal, saying he needed to set an example of simple living and that if reports of the power bill of his house were true, it was shameful.