NEW DELHI: The internecine conflict in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has escalated with Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, the two founders of the party who now find themselves at odds with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, offering to opt out of the political affairs committee (PAC) of the party.Prashant Bhushan, in a letter dated February 26 addressed to the national executive of the party – a copy of which is with ET – slammed Kejriwal for "overturning collective decisions of the party".Contradicting the party’s public stand, he accused the party of seeking Congress’ support for forming government in Delhi after its embarrassing loss in Lok Sabha elections. Seemingly referring to Kejriwal, he also said that the one-man-centric election campaign during Delhi elections made AAP look like any other conventional political party.On Sunday, AAP’s Delhi state secretary Dilip Pandey wrote a letter to the national secretary Pankaj Gupta accusing Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan of anti-party activities. Last week, AAP’s national executive authorised Kejriwal, the party’s national convener and undisputed leader, to reconstitute the PAC, the party’s top decision-making body.Top sources in AAP told ET that the party on Friday constituted a 3-member panel to mediate between the three leaders. Members of this committee – Pankaj Gupta, Anand Kumar and Gopal Rai – met Yadav on Saturday night and Bhushan on Sunday morning. The duo’s offer to quit the PAC was conveyed to the panel during these interactions.A top leader of AAP interpreted these developments as evidence of Kejriwal’s firm grip on the party, which he, along with Yadav, Bhushan and others, founded in 2012. "The ball is now in Arvind’s court as he has the final authority to decide who will be part of the body," he told ET.Yadav, while offering to leave the PAC, sought a fresh assignment from the national executive, according to the sources cited above. He also drew the panel’s attention to his demands for organisational reforms and for more frequent meetings of bodies like the national executive. Bhushan also offered to opt out of the PAC, but suggested that Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai should do the same to make way for fresh blood in the top decision-making body. Bhushan also said that the PAC needed more geographical and gender diversity."But Prashantji’s proposal concerning Manish (Sisodia) and Gopal (Rai) was only a suggestion and not a condition," said a top party source, who did not wish to be identified. ET could not reach Yadav and Bhushan for a comment despite repeated attempts as they were both out of town on Sunday. Attempts to reach Kejriwal on Sunday were not successful.On Saturday, when ET sought Bhushan’s responses to the proposed PAC rejig, he had this to say: "I am not interested in holding any post in the party. I just want to ensure that the party should not compromise on its founding principles. There are certainly some problems with internal democracy and transparency which need to be corrected. I do not wish to say any more."The rift came out in the open after party ombudsman Admiral Ramdas sent a scathing letter to all three leaders expressing anguish over the growing divide and trust deficit between the senior leadership. Ramdas, in his letter, had listed examples of mistrust among the party’s top leadership. Interestingly, he also proposed a concerted effort to build on the Delhi success and go national, the core argument put forward by Yadav. On Sunday, Ramdas spoke to ET and expressed his concern at the internal communiqué getting leaked to the media. He said he had "every reason to believe the letter has been received positively" by the party. Yadav and Bhushan are pitted against Kejriwal, who enjoys overwhelming support among the party’s volunteers, who played a key role in the party’s routing of the BJP in the Delhi assembly elections. At the heart of the division are allegations of lack of innerparty democracy in decision-making besides differences over whether the party should build on its success in Delhi and go national.The stunning success of AAP in the recent Delhi polls where the party bagged 67 of the 70 seats had led many to see the three-year-old party as a possible alternative to both the ruling BJP and the Congress, the principal opposition party. While Yadav is in favour of contesting state elections, Kejriwal wants to focus on delivering on promises made to voters of Delhi first and then think national. The three also differed over candidate selection at the time of Delhi elections. The letter from Ramdas, a copy of which is with ET, confirms that there were several instances when the bickering threatened to split AAP."In end December 2014, there was a crisis situation brought about by Shri Prashant Bhushan’s unhappiness with candidate selection procedures and decision-making processes. If not addressed, he said, he would be forced to resign from the party and go public. To contain this, a special meeting was called in Delhi on Jan 3-4, 2015 at which a decision was taken to refer the issue to the Lokpal, assisted by a specially selected team…This was not the first time that I had to use my good offices to defuse a crisis situation; the previous one being immediately after the explosive Sangrur NEC, (August 2014)," the letter says.