After Ashutosh, Ashish Khetan delivers another blow to Kejriwal, quits AAP

In yet another blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), another leader Ashish Khetan has resigned from the party, AAP sources said on Wednesday. Khetan’s resignation as Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice chairman comes a week after another leader, Ashutosh, announced his exit from the party. Khetan had sent his resignation to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on August 15, the day Ashutosh announced his resignation, party sources said.

“I had resigned from DDC in April, to join the legal profession. That is all. Not interested in rumours,” Khaitan tweeted, referring to the Delhi DDC, an advisory body of the Delhi government.

I had resigned from DDC in April, to join the legal profession. That is all. Not interested in rumours

— Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) August 22, 2018

“I am completely focused on my legal practice and not involved in active politics at the moment. Rest is all extrapolation,” he said in another tweet.

However, according to insiders, both resignations of Ashutosh and Khetan are yet to be accepted by Kejriwal, party insiders said. They said that Khetan had resigned as DDC vice chairman, citing “frustration” due to the tussle between the Centre and the AAP-led government. 

Khetan wanted to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi parliamentary seat that he had lost to BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi in 2014. But his demand was not being accepted by the leadership and he had been upset for a while, party sources said.