AAP MP Dharamvir Gandhi urges party to 'openly' support Prashant Bhushan-Yogendra Yadav movement

NEW DELHI: After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's tweet in support of Yogendra Yadav, who was arrested during a farmers' agitation, AAP MP Dharamvir Gandhi today appealed to the party to show "large-heartedness" instead of a "mere tweet".

Gandhi urged AAP volunteers to "join and openly support" Yadav and Prashant Bhushan-led 'Jai Kisan Andolan'. The duo were expelled from AAP, following a bitter fallout with the party's national convenor Kejriwal earlier this year.

"Kejriwalji had said (in an interview) that he would be happy if Yadav and Bhushan return to the party. This is an opportunity for the party to show large heartedness but not through a mere tweet," Gandhi said in a press conference.

Gandhi was referring to Kejriwal's tweet in which he has condemned Yadav's arrest.

The AAP's Patiala MP does not share a great equation with the party leadership and he had criticised senior leaders over the removal of Bhushan and Yadav from the National Executive several times in the past.

Swaraj Abhiyan leaders had initially convened the presser at Gandhi's official residence at North Avenue but it was later shifted to Parliament Street.

Gandhi had also openly lashed out at the AAP top ranks for appointing observers in Punjab Lok Sabha constituencies, ahead of state polls, without consulting party MPs.

Yadav was arrested, along with 85 volunteers of Swaraj Abhiyan, during a protest on farmers' issue at Jantar Mantar in the wee hours but was later released by a court.

AAP's Timarpur MLA was also among the arrested following the police crackdown.

"I strongly condemn the treatment meted out to Yogendraji by the Delhi Police. They were protesting peacefully. It is their fundamental right," Kejriwal had tweeted.

Speaking to reporters later, the Delhi Chief Minister said, "I appeal to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene in this and ask for a report regarding the issue."

Meanwhile, AAP senior leader Sanjay Singh was booed by Swaraj Abhiyan activists when he had come to meet Yadav outside Parliament Street police station. Anand Kumar, the convenor of Swaraj Abhiyan, later expressed an apology over the incident allegedly orchestrated by some "anti-social" elements.