Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan has allowed 'merger' of 7 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The move has boosted the BJP’s
strength in the Upper House from 106 to 113. On Friday, AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak had announced their exit from the party as they joined the BJP along with five other MPs -- Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal and Vikramjit Sahney. According to an official Rajya Sabha notification issued following the approval, only three MPs are now listed under the AAP, while the rest have been reflected as part of the BJP. Chadha alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals, which is why he was joining the BJP. He said the seven had merged with the BJP as a faction. In the immediate wake of the exodus, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann dubbed the seven leaders "gaddars". Mann alleged that the BJP was trying to break the AAP and had "betrayed the people of Punjab". AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday said that the party will write to the Rajya Sabha chairman and vice president seeking the disqualification of seven of its MPs, who quit the party a day ago, from the Upper House, calling their move "unconstitutional and illegal". "Anti-defection law clearly states that any type of split or faction cannot happen in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. It does not carry any legal recognition, even if it's a two-thirds majority," Singh said at a press conference.
