'I have no doubt that when she was prevented from meeting Kejriwal, she felt humiliated.'
What should have been a simple matter of a miscommunication over an appointment sought by a Rajya Sabha member to meet the leader of her party has turned into a bitter political war between the Aam Aadmi Party leadership, including national Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and senior minister Atishi, on one side, and the Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi, Swati Maliwal, on the other.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, in the Opposition in the Delhi assembly, has waded into the controversy at the height of the election season with the Congress being dragged into it indirectly.
Some associated with AAP in its earlier days describe it as the manifestation of a leadership tussle in the party.
Maliwal began her career as convener of the volunteers who were the backbone of India Against Corruption, a movement whose guiding light was Kisan Baburao Hazare.
She was an associate member of the core committee and used to be invited to sit in all the meetings and was one of those who voted in favour of turning the Hazare-Kejriwal-led agitation into a political party.
So, in a sense, she was one of the junior founder-members of AAP.
"In recognition of her work during IAC and the mobilisation during the Nirbhaya case, she was made chief of the Delhi Commission for Women," said Sunita Godara, a marathon runner and Asian Games Gold medallist who was a member of the IAC core committee.
Godara had dissociated herself from the move to launch AAP, but knows most members who opted to become part of the party at the time.
"I have no doubt that when she was prevented from meeting him (Kejriwal), she felt humiliated," Godara said.
Maliwal says she was roughed up by Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar, who is in police remand.
She has accused AAP of doctoring the CCTV footage, the correct version of which showed the assault on her.
AAP says she turned up without an appointment at a time she thought she would find Kejriwal alone.
"Bibhav is incapable of doing the things he has been charged with," Preeti Sharma Menon, chief of AAP's Maharashtra unit, said, adding, "Swatiji reached Arvindji's house at 8.30 am, knowing Bibhav and others would come a bit later and she would find Arvindji alone.
"It is Hanumanji's kripa that Bibhav was there and the one who staved off an attack that was meant for Arvindji," Sharma Menon added.
"The BJP had sent Maliwal on a mission to entangle Kejriwal in a 'case'. That plot failed," Sharma Menon alleged.
The BJP says this is nonsense. Sudhanshu Mittal, a BJP leader in Delhi, said: "The BJP is not organised enough to manipulate the victim of a crime and use her to its advantage. And the contradictions are obvious.
"Maliwal holds Kejriwal responsible for the assault. But in the written complaint, his name is missing ... we (BJP) don't have to do much. AAP has tied itself up in knots."
"This is unbelievably brazen. We have heard AAP MP Sanjay Singh himself saying -- and not off the cuff, he called a press conference for the purpose -- that what Bibhav Kumar did was misconduct which must be investigated.
"And yet, AAP leaders, including Atishi, say the misconduct was on Maliwal's part! Who are we to believe?", asked Mittal.
AAP sources said Sanjay Singh's intervention was an error of judgement and accepted it weakened their case.
Godara says AAP's handling of Maliwal and Kejriwal's attitude to it come as no surprise.
"Kejriwal is a marvellous manager of people. Many of us decided to leave IAC at various points and he persuaded us all to stay.
"But it is also true he has a highly competitive trait: He does not like people who are more accomplished, more intelligent, better read ... he sees them as threats."
Godara is of the view Maliwal's reaction is a result of another subtext.
Kejriwal reportedly asked Maliwal to resign from the Rajya Sabha (her term will end in 2030) so that her position could be filled by a lawyer who could handle all the legal problems being faced by Kejriwal and his associates.
Kejriwal's choice would have been the Congress's Abhishek Singhvi, who recently lost the Rajya Sabha election from Himachal Pradesh.
However, Singhvi dismissed this as rumour and speculation. Singhvi told Business Standard: "This is so ridiculous that it should not even be dignified with a response."
"Baseless speculation started by a particular so-called anchor of a particular channel and picked up by persons here and there because salacious unfounded gossip sounds good," Singhvi said.
"How come the person for whom all this has been done -- me -- has never even been asked nor knows anything about it?" Singhvi asked.
Maliwal is considering the options open to her. Retreat is clearly not an option. But with Kejriwal's imminent return to prison on June 2, this incident is an intervention AAP could have done without. And a leadership crisis looms.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
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