AAP to write to RS Chairman demanding disqualification of MPs who crossed over to BJP | India News
New Delhi: Claiming that it has legally strengthened itself by merging two-thirds of the party’s members with the BJP in the upper house, the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday announced that it will write to Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan seeking the disqualification of seven of its members who crossed over a day earlier.Chief Minister of Punjab god value President Draupadi also sought time from Murmu for a meeting with party legislators demanding the “withdrawal” of seven MPs. Incidentally, the Constitution does not provide MPs or MLAs with a ‘right of withdrawal’, guaranteeing them a fixed term.Terming the move by the seven — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal and Vikramjit Sahni — as “unconstitutional and illegal”, AAP’s leader in the Rajya Sabha Sanjay Singh highlighted that “the anti-devolution law clearly states that neither the Lok Sabha nor the Vidhan Sabha can be divided. It has no legal recognition and is clearly established in the case of Shiv Sena as well.“However, most legal experts, except Kapil Sibal, agreed on highlighting the Tenth Schedule’s inability to stop political defections while achieving the scale of “merger” and said joining the BJP by AAP MPs would not fall under the anti-defection law, which allows two-thirds to break with other parties and MLAs.However, Sanjay Singh cited the Tenth Schedule as saying that it clearly provides that any division, even if it involves a two-thirds majority or an increase from seven to eight members, has no legal validity.“Therefore, the defection of these seven Rajya Sabha MPs from AAP is completely illegal, wrong, unconstitutional and against parliamentary rules,” he said, adding that he would submit a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman, citing all these rules and demanding complete cancellation of membership of the seven MPs.Meanwhile, reiterating his stance, Chadha was quoted by news agency PTI as saying on Saturday that those who left the party did so not out of fear but because of a growing sense of “frustration, alienation and disgust” with the existing leadership.Party insiders shared that the AAP leadership was aware for the past few days that its MPs had been approached by the BJP, sources said. AAP top brass made a last-ditch effort to dissuade at least two MPs from defecting to the BJP.Apart from rumors that MPs like Mittal have defected to the BJP due to pressure from the ED case, the developments shed light on the organizational challenges within the AAP.For example, not only Chadda, but also Pathak’s dissatisfaction was growing for a long time. Both were instrumental in the distribution of Punjab tickets and paved the way for victory in the state. Pathak, however, has gradually faced marginalization after the party lost the Delhi polls, sources said.Speaking to TOI, Vikramjit Sahni said one of the reasons for his decision was the growing frustration with the functioning of the state government and Punjab facing serious crises – from mounting debt to an agricultural crisis exceeding Rs 4.5 lakh crore, agro-processing, drug menace and slow implementation of projects. “Some of our MPs also felt that the leadership was not accessible – especially Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who was difficult to reach and suggestions were not receptive,” he alleged.
