AAP seeks disqualification of Raghav Chadha, 2 MPs for joining BJP

Pic/PTI

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Friday said he would seek the disqualification of Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak from the Upper House for joining the BJP.

In a post on X, Singh said he would submit a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman demanding that the three MPs be disqualified under the anti-defection law.

"I will submit a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman seeking that Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak be declared disqualified from Rajya Sabha membership for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," he said.

Singh said their decision to join another party amounted to voluntarily giving up membership of their original party under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

Earlier in the day, AAP Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, in a joint press conference, announced that they were leaving the party and joining the BJP.

Chadha claimed that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha MPs had quit the party and would function as a separate faction before formally joining the BJP.

He also said several leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal and former cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, had also resigned from AAP.

According to Chadha, seven out of AAP's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs have quit the party.

AAP cries betrayal as 7 Rajya Sabha MPs quit party

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday termed the resignation of seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs a "betrayal of Punjab", accusing the BJP of engineering the split, and using fear of central agencies to poach its leaders.

The party said the people of Punjab would not forgive those who "stabbed the state in the back" after being elevated to Parliament.

In a post on X, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said, "The BJP has once again betrayed Punjabis."

AAP leader Manish Sisodia said the MPs who "bowed before the BJP" and betrayed the people of Punjab due to "fear, greed and personal compulsions" would not be forgiven by the state.

"Punjab never forgives traitors," Sisodia said.

He said that while party workers in Gujarat were risking their lives to strengthen AAP's ideology, some leaders chose to become turncoats.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh accused the top BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, of trying to weaken the party by poaching its leaders.

"They have betrayed the people of Punjab. The people of Punjab must remember these seven names. They will never forgive those who have betrayed the state," Singh said.

He said that the AAP and the people of Punjab helped these leaders rise from the grassroots to Parliament, but they "stabbed Punjab in the back."

The very person on whom the ED was conducting raids until a few days back is now in the BJP, he said, adding, "This, then, implies that this is 'Operation Lotus'."