Peace prevails in AAP: Yogendra Yadav out of PAC, may get new role

NEW DELHI: It started with a resignation and ended in a lot of uncomfortable hugs. After Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal's offer to resign as party's national convenor, for the second time in a row, peace was brokered with the AAP boss deciding to rejig his political affairs panel and give new roles to 'rebels' Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.

Here's what panned out at the AAP meet that had everyone hooked on to their TV sets on Thursday.

7.50 pm: Senior AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan voted out of the party's political affairs committee and Yadav reportedly asked to step down as the party's official spokesperson. Both said they were volunteers of the party and would take up any role offered to them.

2.00 pm: Meet begins


1.20 pm: Party spokesperson Anand Kumar says party needs to keep its eye on reality and not forget that it is growing. "One thing is very clear that the party needs Kejriwal as its national convenor."

1.20 pm: Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan also reportedly offer to resign before meet. Yadav tweets: "We won't break the party... We will improve ourselves and others."

ना तोड़ेंगे, ना छोड़ेंगे सुधरेंगे और सुधारेंगे।

— Yogendra Yadav (@AapYogendra) March 4, 2015

12.45 pm: Kejriwal offers to resign as AAP's national convenor, says he wants to focus only on governing Delhi. This was also his second offer to resign this week to end the slugfest.

11.10 pm: Ashish Khetan who launched a personal jibe on Prashant Bhushan has a change of heart. He takes down his tweets maligning Bhushan and his family and says he 'looks forward' to working as a team.

I shd not have commented about Bhushans in public. We've fought for many public causes together & will hopefully continue to work as a team

— Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) March 4, 2015

11 am: AAP party members talk to press before national executive meet at 2 pm, some say leaders 'working against the party' could be shown the door.

10.00 am: Yogendra Yadav says he won't mind leaving PAC post for party's good. "If I have done anything wrong, I should be punished for that. If I am not capable enough to be in PAC, I should be removed, but leaving a post doesn't mean I'll leave party.

(with PTI and Times Now inputs)