NEW DELHI: Two days after all Maharashtra state committees were dissolved, state leader Mayank Gandhi hit out at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for abandoning the vision of alternative politics. All set for the sack from the party he once helped found, Gandhi warned against "use and throw" attitude towards volunteers and state leaders.

In a blog Gandhi said, “Our nation and the principles on which our party has been formed are much bigger than the short term benefits and “practical” short cuts that sometimes we compromise on....Today, it is seeming that our dream of “alternative politics” has been abandoned.”

“The politics that we had come to change seems to have changed us. We used to say and feel that “We have no option but to enter the gutter of politics, to clean it”, I think that the gutter has overpowered us,” he said.

Gandhi said that the state unit had paid for standing up to Delhi’s “high command.” First when it opposed the manner in which senior leaders like Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were expelled from the party, next when they asked reduction of personality driven politics and concentration on Kejriwal at the cost of the party and thirdly, when they opposed Gandhi’s ouster.

The national executive member said that he had offered to resign to spare the disbandment of the state committees and tried to get in touch with Kejriwal several times but was ignored. “This party is a volunteer driven party and when I see the leaders treating them badly, it hurts. They are not “use-and-throw” material. They are our soul,” he added.

Blaming “conspirators” and “disgruntled people” for the present state of affairs, Gandhi ruled out quitting instead digging in heels to say that he would continue to raise his voice for transparency and cause of “Swaraj” within the party.

