Major blow to AAP
NEW DELHI, Apr 24:
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a jolt today as seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, quit the party, with Chadha saying all of them had merged with the BJP, asserting that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
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Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikram Sahni and Swati Maliwal were the other four parliamentarians in the group of seven. Their move came as a surprise to many, as the exits were disclosed at a hurriedly called press conference at Constitution Club in central Delhi, after which AAP chief Kejriwal alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had betrayed the people of Punjab while state Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann termed the seven MPs “gaddar” (traitors).
The BJP extended a warm welcome to the MPs as party president Nitin Nabin offered them traditional sweets.
“Welcomed Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, and Ashok Mittal to the BJP family at the Party HQ today. Also, best wishes to Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Vikram Sahney, and Rajinder Gupta to work under the dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi towards the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047,” Nabin said in a post on X shortly thereafter.
AAP leaders accused the saffron party of launching “Operation Lotus” to break away party MPs and of conspiring to stop the Mann government’s good work in Punjab.
Chadha said at the press conference that the seven MPs had merged with the BJP as the AAP was no longer honouring its founding principles.
“The AAP, that I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth, has completely strayed from its principles, values and core morals,” he said.
Chadha was recently removed as the deputy leader of the AAP in the Rajya Sabha and was replaced by Mittal.
“As per the Constitution, two-thirds of the total MPs of a party can merge with another party,” Chadha said, referring to the party’s strength of 10 MPs.
“They have already signed, and this morning we submitted all the required documentation, including signed letters and other formal paperwork, to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha,” Chadha said.
Pathak, who held the post of national general secretary in the AAP, also said the party had diverted from the principles on which it was founded.
Of the seven MPs, six come from Punjab, including Chadha, Pathak, Mittal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahni, and Harbhajan Singh, while Swati Maliwal is from Delhi.
The three Rajya Sabha MPs who still remain with the party are Sanjay Singh, ND Gupta and Balbir Singh Seechewal.
AAP sources said the exits were aimed at destabilising the party before the Assembly elections in Punjab next year and admitted that the party was on guard to keep its flock together in the state.
Party insiders said the fear of action by central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could have played a part in influencing the decision of some of the MPs who were businessmen from Punjab while the others were unhappy with their shrinking political role within the party.
On April 15, the ED conducted raids at business entities linked to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal in Punjab as part of a FEMA probe.
Pathak, who was national general secretary, was feeling sidelined as his role was restricted to just the day-to-day affairs of the party, they said. (PTI)
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