Raghav Chadha on Friday made a bombshell announcement of him and six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs merging with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a move to ensure retention of membership in the upper house.
The announcement comes days after Raghav Chadha was removed by the AAP from the post of Rajya Sabha deputy leader and replaced by Ashok Mittal, who is also part of members merging with the BJP.
Who are the AAP Rajya Sabha MPs merging with BJP?
Raghav Chadha
Ashok Mittal,
Sandeep Pathak,
Harbhajan Singh,
Rajinder Gupta,
Vikram Sahney
Swati Maliwal
There are 10 AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha and, according to Raghav Chadha, more than two-third of them are part of the decision — a figure needed for the MPs to retain their membership in the upper house. Track Raghav Chadha news updates here
Of the seven who have switched sides, six are MPs from Punjab, elected in 2022 when the AAP won the state elections with massive mandate.
Under the Constitution’s Tenth Schedule, a member of the Rajya Sabha is exempt from anti-defection disqualification only if two-thirds of his/her party’s legislators together agree to merge with another party. Read more here
Chadha underlined this in his the press conference as well as in a post on X: “We, two-thirds of the Members of Parliament belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).”
