Pics: Meryick D'Silva
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SHS)

Mangalore, Jul 19: In what may spell as an end of Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) stint in the district, the founding members of the party in Dakshina Kannada on Saturday July 19 resigned en masse, apparently disappointed with the functioning of the party, and also due to an 'order' issued by the state unit to 'dissolve' the district unit of the party.

Robert Rosario, founder convener, S Nandagopal, founder co-convener, Dharmendra, convener, Ajay Kumar, founder joint secretary and 13 others resigned from the party.

Announcing this at press meet at Janata Delux hall here, Nandagopal, said that the founding members of the party were miffed with the undemocratic manner by which the party's candidate for the Lok Sabha elections was selected, and the party's functioning post-elections. He added that earlier the members did not raise this issue so as not to tarnish the image of the party during elections or damage its chances. "The members feel that now is the appropriate time resign from the party as it won't do any damage," he said.

"We joined the party after being inspired by the anti-corruption movement, transparency and its stand on swaraj. But the candidate was chosen in a most undemocratic manner. A few noted state leaders nominated M R Vasudeva and this brought diffrences within the party before it went to elections," he said.

During the early days of the party, it garnered good response in the district with the launch of its membership drive at BEM school and online. However, the candidate failed to get more than 6,000 votes, which is much less than the number of members (12,000) of the party."

"The district unit that was set up, first of its kind in the country, but never enjoyed freedom as it was controlled by the state executive committee. The state committee after the elections virtually dissolved the district unit," he added.

He insisted that the decline of the party at the national level had nothing to do with the decision to resign. "The members will come back to the party if the party strengthens itself on the motto which it formulated during its launch," he said.

In a press release, the resigning members added, "It is unfortunate that the manner in which the party is heading post elections, wherein there seem to be absolutely no internal democracy and internal governing mechanism at the district level. While the party has been sabotaged by a few for their vested interests, the active members including most of the founding members are disillusioned with party leadership in the state which has consistently failed to proactively resolve the impending crisis in the party.

"The disintegration of the party in the district level began when the Lok Sabha candidate (M R Vasudeva) was announced without any consultation in the ground level, exhibiting total lack of internal democracy. The things became worse every following day as the candidate utterly failed in taking genuine party workers into confidence. The functioning of the party has gone off track totally and we feel that there is no point in our continuing in the party fold.

"We have written a letter to our National Convener, Arvind Kejriwal on the happenings in the district, which is copied to all concerned leaders in the state and national level. However, none have replied or reacted to it, proving that the leadership has ignored or not interested in the legitimate concerns of the party workers in the grass root level," the release stated.

Lambasting at M R Vasudeva, the release stated, "The party in the district has become a victim of continued conspiracy of a few led by the Lok Sabha candidate M R Vasudeva to gain control of the district unit in the most undemocratic manner."

"The resignation letter is being issued through the media as we fail to understand as to who is the authorized person to be addressed as the district unit has been dissolved as per an order issued by the state committee. The structure of the party has crumbled from the state level and hence we wish to issue this mass resignation to the media," the release stated.

Excerpts from AAP DK unit's letter to Kejriwal

In a letter addressed to party's national chief Arvind Kejriwal a day after the completion of Lok Sabha elections, the members had stated, "...it is sad that we have always been guided (rather misguided) by the Karnataka state committee which, today we are convinced, is merely the Bangalore taluk committee and by default (by virtue of being in Bangalore), our so called state committee. If at all there was internal democracy, the first voice of our members would have been satisfactorily responded. Our members felt that we need to field at least a few candidates for the local body (Mangalore City Corporation) elections that were due in March 2013. But a straight forward answer from the “State Committee” shut us down saying that the party was concentrating on Delhi Elections due in November. That was when we ventured into supporting a couple of independents but to no avail.

"Again, since we had no active role to play in the State Legislative Assembly elections in April-May, party volunteers showed least regard for building the party. The primary and active members led by the Executive Committee sprung into action now and then and the growth of the party was snail paced. The same time saw some bad patch in the administrative functioning of the party which led to the ouster of the founder convener and constitution of a new team of office bearers.

"We all were excited with the results of Delhi and there was sudden spurt of action in an unprecedented pace. On January 9, 2014, we witnessed an unexpected amount of enthusiasm as appreciable number of people turned out for the Membership drive. Coincidentally, again, Mangalore was the first in the country to start the membership drive before Delhi (which started on January 10). The reaction of public was volcanic as the party got a shot in the arm with support from all sections of the society.

"This was a phase of steady building of the party which was successfully halted by the wrongdoings and high handedness of one member (Rohan Shiri) who failed miserably in cultivating a cordial relationship with the new members who enthusiastically joined the party fold. The steady decline in the number of volunteers to the party office went unnoticed by the executive committee until it reached a threshold when complaints started pouring in regarding the mannerisms of the member in question who was managing the office affairs. The members of the executive committee chose to put things right and carry forward without taking action against the secretary who in turn along with his spouse (an advisory committee member) conspired to take control of the functioning of the district unit in all possible manner.

"All of a sudden, a person (however capable he is), who has never been identified with our party which has been in existence since one year, was para-dropped as the AAP candidate for Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency. A secret ploy that took each one of us by surprise. On enquiring, we found several negatives about the candidate but we were royally snubbed down by the “State Leadership”. We now feel that we were quite humble to have been obeying all that came from the state instead of asserting our opinions.

"It was too late to realise that we had not been taken into confidence and our goodness was exploited by the state convener in connivance with the Rohan Shiri. The National Executive Member Prithvi Reddy also stood by the defaulters and finally we were thrust upon by a candidate who failed to garner our support and confidence. Volunteers worked round the clock not for the candidate who has been 'Arrogance Personified’, but for the party which has been dear to them. “I am not here to solve your internal problems. I am here to contest the elections as a candidate and you better tow my line”, was the first statement of our MP Candidate which speaks volumes of the 'humility’ of this person."

The letter also states, "We are also sad at the manner in which the funds were utilised for the campaigning activities. Sad because, contrary to our objective of selfless and voluntary service which the party expects, we were no different from any other party in terms of paid volunteers. Further, the candidate (M R Vasudeva) has been leading some protests post elections without even discussing with the members who matter and thus trying to create groupism in the party with the sole intention of taking control of the party affairs following the election process.

"The post election scenario is even worse. The candidate Vasudeva had the audacity to go to the media and announce that he contesting from AAP was a 'mis-calculated’ move. He also went on to criticise the party structure terming it as 'fragile’ and 'marred with difference of opinions within’. When the active members took exception to his statements, he openly declared in the media that he was the 'district spokesperson’ and that any other’s opinions should not be entertained by the media. It is ironical that an MP candidate has declared himself as the spokesperson without the knowledge of any of the district active members or the core committee.

"He (Vasudeva) is washing his hands off for the dismal performance in the elections and blaming the party organisation. While the general opinion of the public is that the choice of the candidate itself was 'mis-calculated’. He is in connivance with few other members are openly working towards splitting the party, instead of building the party from the grass root level," the letter states.