Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: After the exodus of 7 Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MPs, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann is scheduled to meet President Draupadi Murmu on May 5 to “safeguard the mandate of the people.”Man has sought time to meet the President along with party MLAs to press for the “recall” of seven Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs who merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party.In a social media post on X, Mann said that though he had sought time to meet the President Draupadi Murmu along with AAP MLAs from the state over the issue of defection of 7 Rajya Sabha MPs, the President has agreed to meet him alone on May 5 at 12 noon.He said he will reach Rashtrapati Bhawan with party MLAs from the state and they will wait outside.“It is our duty to safeguard the mandate of the people of Punjab and the democratic values. I am delighted to inform you that the Honourable President Droupadi Murmu Ji has granted a meeting time of 12 noon on 5 May. Although we had requested time for all MLAs, I alone have received the invitation to meet,” Mann said.“I shall arrive at Rashtrapati Bhavan with my fellow MLAs. My fellow MLAs will remain outside, and I shall go in to present the voice of Punjab and the people’s side with full strength before the Honourable President Ji on behalf of all. The next strategy will be shared following the meeting. Heartfelt thanks to the Honourable President Ji for giving this precious time,” he added.However, there is no provision for recalling a legislator in the law.On April 24, the Aam Aadmi Party suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs — Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal — quit and merged with the BJP, alleging that the party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Six of the seven MPs who quit AAP were from Punjab.“We have decided that we, two-thirds of members belonging to the AAP in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge with the BJP,” Raghav Chadha said at a press conference.The fallout followed weeks of escalating tensions between Chadha and the party leadership. Earlier this month, he was removed as AAP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha and accused by senior leaders of engaging in “soft PR” instead of aggressively taking on the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.His growing distance from the party had become evident over the past year as Chadha was abroad when Kejriwal was arrested in the excise policy case in March 2024 and remained away during his nearly six-month incarceration.Senior party leaders also alleged that Chadha had been reluctant to raise issues aligned with AAP’s political stand. They pointed to his refusal to sign a notice seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and his failure to join opposition walkouts in Parliament.Chadha, however had rejected these allegations, calling them “white lies” and challenging the party to provide evidence.Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of the MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the Upper House to three.According to the updated list, the Congress has 29 members, while the Trinamool Congress holds 13 seats. The DMK has 8 members, followed by the YSR Congress Party with 7. The Biju Janata Dal has 6 members, and the AIADMK has 5. The Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party have 4 members each.
