'Can't do as they please': Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann hits out at Raghav Chadha, ex-AAP MPs for BJP switch

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like Following the exit of Raghav Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the move, and stated that the MPs “cannot do as they please”. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann with AAP MLAs addresses the media after meeting with President Droupadi Murmu (ANI)Mann on Tuesday met President Droupadi Murmu, demanding the termination of the membership of six Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab who defected to the BJP. The meeting comes shortly after Chadha held a meeting with the President. Speaking to reporters after meeting President Murmu, Mann said there is a law in place for everything, criticising the decision of the seven leaders to go and merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party. "If seven out of ten of our MPs get together and declare they have merged with another party, there's no such law. They can't do as they please," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The Punjab leader further added that if Chadha and the other MPs disliked being part of the AAP, they should have submitted their resignations and then joined another party. Mann also criticised the decision by the seven AAP 'rebels' as unconstitutional, as he called for the cancellation of the membership of the Rajya Sabha MPs. "After resigning, they could have been elected from anywhere...I told the President how democracy is currently being made a mockery of in Punjab...Their membership should be revoked...If there is no provision for recall, then bring an amendment," Mann added further. Following Mann's remarks, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Tuesday accused the AAP-led Punjab government of indulging in 'vendetta politics' and misusing the state machinery to target the MPs who recently quit the party and merged with the BJP in the Rajya Sabha. "All those MPs who exercised their constitutional right to express disagreement with the Aam Aadmi Party and chose to leave it, and all these incidents and developments, have been presented today before the President of India. I also want to tell the Aam Aadmi Party that as long as we were obedient, we were considered cultured. The moment we left, we were branded corrupt," Chadha told reporters after his meeting with the President, Mann's remarks come after seven AAP MPs from Punjab, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, and Ashok Mittal, merged with the BJP in the Rajya Sabha. With this merger, the BJP's strength in the upper house increased to 113 seats, coming as a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party. Following the exit of the seven MPs, the seats held by AAP in the Rajya Sabha have been reduced to three.