delhi

Updated: Jun 20, 2017 18:36 IST

New Delhi

Dissidence in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over Kumar Vishwas is out in the open once again.

Despite claims that “all is well” in the party, the top leadership was left red-faced on Saturday morning after it found anti-Vishwas posters outside its Rouse Avenue office in Delhi.

The party, however, cried foul and claimed that it was the handiwork of ‘outsiders’

The posters called for the ouster of Kumar Vishwas, who was recently made the chief of AAP’s Rajasthan unit after his bitter tiff with party convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The posters accuse Vishwas of being a traitor and indulging in anti-party activities. It also accuses him of colluding with the BJP and back-stabbing party leaders.

“A friend of BJP. Not a poet, he is a traitor. He attacks while in hiding and back-stabs. Remove such deceiver,” the poster read.

The AAP top brass and scores of its members have apparently been unhappy with Vishwas after he asked the party’s volunteers in Rajasthan not to stay in five-star hotels and farmhouses. Workers also did not like the series of allegations the poet-turned politician had levelled against Kejriwal and other party leaders.

The posters also thank Dilip Pandey, who quit as convener of the party’s Delhi unit in April following AAP’s defeat in MCD polls. “Thank you Dilip Pandey for exposing the bitter truth of Kumar Vishwas,” it said.

However, Pandey took to Twitter to deny the claims. He alleged a conspiracy by ‘outsiders’ to create rift in the party. He said the party has lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police against ‘objectionable posters’.

“I request you to consider my complaint, and identify and take necessary action against those behind this act,” read Pandey’s letter to the police.

Vishwas did not talk about the issue, but speaking on the sidelines of a party event on Saturday, he said, “We (AAP) did not come into being for these conspiracies and palace politics hatched by five-six people. We are for the causes based on which the party was born at the Ramlila Maidan.”

Earlier this week, Pandey hit out at Vishwas, asking why he was openly abusing Congress while going soft on Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

While those who put up these posters are yet to be identified, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj did not rule out the role of people outside the party. “I do not think anybody from the party has done this. It could be someone from outside the party,” he said.

“In fact, the police should find out who has done it as it is a law and order case. The party will soon decide how to go about this thing. But, there is no internal rift in the party,” Bhardwaj added.