AAP suspends sacked minister Sandeep Kumar from party membership

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 03, 2016: The Aam Aadmi Party said on Saturday it has suspended sacked Delhi minister from the party’s primary membership.

“AAP suspends Sandeep Kumar from primary membership of the party”, said a re-tweet by party founder-leader and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, three days after he removed the 35-year-old Kumar who featured in an alleged sex tape.

The nine-minute CD, which carried visuals of Kumar, who held the charge of the women and child welfare ministry in the Delhi government, surfaced at the CM’s office on Wednesday, prompting Kejriwal to axe his cabinet colleague with “immediate effect” after a top-level AAP meeting.

Kumar, who is the MLA from Sultanpur Majra , was seen with two women in separate instances in the video act that Kejriwal termed “objectionable”. The sacked legislator alleged he was being “targeted” because of his Dalit status.

Kumar is the third minister to face the axe from the 18-month-old AAP ministry—the others being Jitendra Tomar and Asim Ahmed Khan.

AAP spokesperson Ashutosh partly defended Kumar, saying the video showed consensual sex between adults but said a public figure cannot enjoy “many discretions” unlike an ordinary citizen. “A public figure probably cannot openly smoke, drink and flirt with the opposite sex, but he or she is entitled to his or her private space and he or she should not be chased there,” Ashutosh wrote in a blog post on NDTV.com, saying the AAP was “deeply embarrassed”.

Kejriwal said Kumar “betrayed” the AAP as well as the party-led movement. “We will never ever compromise on our core values. We will prefer to die than tolerate wrongdoings,” he said in a video message to AAP members, explaining the minister’s removal.