Kapashera (Delhi), March 4: The Aam Aadmi Party today shunted two founding members, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, from its top decision-making council, drawing comparisons with conventional parties whose ways Arvind Kejriwal and his broom symbol had challenged.

Yadav and Bhushan were voted out of AAP's political affairs committee (PAC) - somewhat similar to the politburo of the CPM - after a meeting that went on for over six hours. They were charged with 'indiscipline' and 'sabotage'.

In the final count, 11 members of the national executive rooted for the duo's ouster from the PAC and eight voted in their favour.

Kejriwal, the AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister, had excused himself from the meeting on health grounds but ensured that his writ was endorsed.

Reminiscent of the 'high command culture' so often ridiculed by Kejriwal himself, the national executive 'unanimously' rejected his offer to step down as convener.

Kejriwal flies to Bangalore tomorrow for a 10-day naturopathy regimen because of his chronic cough and high blood sugar.

'The meeting decided to free Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the responsibilities of the political affairs committee. They will be assigned new roles,' Kumar Vishwas, who presided over the meeting in Kejriwal's absence, announced after the meeting.

Vishwas added that the executive unanimously rejected Kejriwal's resignation letter. Vishwas is learnt to have abstained from voting.

Ahead of this formal announcement, Yadav, looking pale, and Bhushan emerged from a sprawling resort where the meeting was held. Bhushan chose silence but Yadav said he would remain a 'disciplined party worker' and take whatever role the party assigned him.

'Whatever happens, the hopes of thousands of workers from this party should not be shattered. I, as a disciplined party worker, will play whatever role the party assigns me,' Yadav said and drove away.

The impact of whatever went on inside the resort was writ large on the face of the two leaders, particularly Yadav who was regarded as the ideologue of the young party.

Sources said that at the closed-door meeting, one charge after another was slapped on the duo. They were virtually held guilty of trying to sabotage the prospects of the party in the run-up to the Delhi elections. They were accused of indiscipline and conspiracy to unseat Kejriwal.

'They should have resigned on their own, given the case against them was strong. But when they did not, they were voted out. What role they will play now will be decided later,' said an AAP leader.

A meeting of the larger body of the party, the national council, will be called later to finalise their role.

The duo might be assigned some tasks in the future but they can never regain the core space they enjoyed, an AAP leader said. 'They have been shown the door. They may remain but each will be treated like a nobody,' the leader added.

Outside the resort, party volunteers waited for long, holding placards of '#United AAP' and hoping that the differences would be settled.

The volunteers displayed old pictures of Kejriwal, Yadav and Bhushan and demanded that they remain together.

'Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are assets for the AAP. We have come here to demand that they should remain in the party and work with Kejriwal,' said Vandana, an economics graduate.

The fate of Yadav and Bhushan were decided at a banquet hall of Calista Resort, spread over four acres on the Delhi-Haryana border.

The resort with 20 rooms and halls is still under construction and is owned by Naresh Yadav, an AAP legislator. Yadav was given a ticket by the party at the last moment, triggering questions of propriety within the party and some murmurs of foul play.

Bhushan, an 'activist lawyer', had questioned the credentials of more than a dozen candidates fielded by the AAP in Delhi and said the party had compromised on the principles on which it was founded.

Bhushan had also flagged the rise of a 'personality cult' in the AAP, saying Kejriwal took all the decisions.