RS clears merger of AAP MPs with BJP

Rajya Sabha (RS) Chairman CP Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the Upper House to three. After the merger, the BJP’s strength in the RS has increased to 113.

The seven MPs petitioned the RS Chairman on Friday to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger, sources said, adding the petition has been accepted. Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are the seven MPs who merged with the BJP.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju welcomed the MPs into the NDA. “Hon’ble Chairman Rajya Sabha Shri CP Radhakrishnan has accepted the merger of 7 AAP MPs with BJP,” he said on social media.

He added, “For a long time I’ve observed that these Hon’ble MPs have not resorted to abusive language and never created any indiscipline and unparliamentary conduct… Welcome to nation-building NDA under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and goodbye to Tukde-Tukde INDI Alliance.”

The RS website now shows that the seven MPs are part of the BJP list of members. Of the total seven MPs representing Punjab in the Rajya Sabha, six are with the BJP and only one remains with AAP. While in the Capital, of the total three MPs, two now remain with the AAP and one with the BJP. Sanjay Singh and ND Gupta (both AAP) and Swati Maliwal (BJP) represent Delhi in the Rajya Sabha.

The AAP had earlier on Sunday termed their merger as “unconstitutional.” AAP MP Sanjay Singh had also moved a petition before the RS Chairman seeking the termination of the seven MPs from the Upper House of the Parliament.

On Friday last, seven Rajya Sabha MPs from AAP announced their merger with the BJP, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Chadha announced on Friday that, exercising the provisions of the Constitution, more than two-thirds of the AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha have merged with the BJP. He said seven MPs signed the document, which was submitted to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and he personally handed over the signed documents.