Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has sought time to meet Droupadi Murmu and is expected to visit her along with MLAs from Punjab to present his position on the defection of several Rajya Sabha members and push for their recall. The move comes amid a major political development involving the Aam Aadmi Party.
Mann is likely to raise concerns regarding the defection of seven AAP MPs and argue that their exit undermines the mandate under which they were elected. The development follows the decision of seven Rajya Sabha members — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal, and Vikramjit Sahney — to resign from the AAP and join the Bharatiya Janata Party as a group.
While Chadha’s departure had been anticipated after he was removed from the position of deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, the simultaneous exit of six additional MPs intensified the political impact. With seven out of ten AAP MPs in the Upper House leaving together, the group meets the two-thirds threshold under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, meaning they are unlikely to face disqualification under anti-defection provisions.
Reacting strongly to the development, Mann described the defecting MPs as “traitors” and accused the BJP of attempting to weaken the AAP. He alleged that the move was politically motivated and claimed that the BJP was acting against the interests of Punjab and its people. He also suggested that the party’s actions were influenced by past political disagreements, including those related to the now-repealed farm laws during the tenure of Narendra Modi.
The move to approach the President has, however, drawn criticism from the Shiromani Akali Dal. Senior leader Daljit Cheema termed Mann’s decision as “political theatre” and argued that matters related to defection fall under the jurisdiction of Parliament rather than the President. He pointed out that the anti-defection law allows a merger if more than two-thirds of a party’s members join another party, a condition that has been met in this case.
The Akali Dal also accused Mann of inconsistency, noting that his government had previously accepted the defection of an MLA from their party into the AAP and subsequently appointed him to a public position. Additionally, the party questioned AAP’s selection of its Rajya Sabha candidates, raising concerns about the nomination of individuals they described as wealthy outsiders instead of representatives of Punjab’s broader population.
The resignations were formally announced during a press briefing in Delhi, where Raghav Chadha stated that he had felt sidelined within the AAP and described himself as being in the “wrong party” despite years of association. He, along with Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal, subsequently joined the BJP in the presence of party leadership.
Chadha also justified his decision by alleging that the party under Arvind Kejriwal had deviated from its original principles and values. He praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cited national security and governance decisions as reasons for aligning with the BJP.
The mass defection has significantly reduced AAP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha to just three members and has triggered a major political shift ahead of the upcoming Punjab elections.
