Soon after their dramatic expulsion from the Aam Aadmi Party’s national executive on Saturday, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan did not rule out the possibility of floating a new political outfit.

The two leaders may take the AAP to court or to the Election Commission over the manner in which the national council meeting was conducted.

Though Mr. Yadav said he was “shell-shocked” by events at the meeting and would have to speak to volunteers, the possibility of a splinter group breaking away from the AAP is now a possibility.

Notably, Mr. Yadav and Mr. Bhushan were joined at their press conference by AAP’s Punjab MP Dharamvir Gandhi, who condemned the events at the meeting.

The third option for the two leaders, sources say, is to ask for a fresh national council meeting which can be done if enough members are dissatisfied with how it was conducted on Saturday. It is a remote possibility.

Both Mr. Bhushan and Mr. Yadav went into a huddle with supporters and were unavailable for comment.

Sources in the AAP, who claimed to be privy to the “duo’s designs”, said they might now put their weight behind “a completely new political formation with national ambitions”.

“We expect a protracted battle in court where Mr. Bhushan might actually file a petition against the party on the basis of alleged irregularities in their ouster, which is completely unfounded and the onus of proving which will be their own,” said a source.

“It is public knowledge that both Mr. Yadav and Mr. Bhushan wanted to float a different party in addition to the desire that the AAP was humiliated in the Delhi Assembly elections,” said another party official adding that “now was their chance.”

At a press conference convened by them after walking out of the AAP national executive meet as soon as a motion to expel them was proposed, Mr. Yadav decried that the AAP had “acted worse than the political parties it used to claim were among the worst in the country.”

The AAP crisis

04 March, 2015
Party’s founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are voted out of its political affairs committee.

06 March, 2015
Senior party leader Mayank Gandhi protests ouster of Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan.

08 March, 2015
Yadav asks AAP workers to put an end to infighting.

11 March, 2015
Senior AAP leader from Mumbai Anjali Damania resigns from the party after allegations of “horse trading” surface against Mr. Kejriwal.

16 March, 2016
Senior leaders from the Kejriwal camp meet Mr. Yadav and hold discussions.

26 March, 2015
AAP ‘unity’ talks fail