Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met President Draupadi Murmu on Tuesday, seeking to terminate the membership of six of the seven Rajya Sabha members who recently left the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the BJP, terming the move a “mockery” of the Constitution.
Mann, accompanied by party members to the capital, submitted a memorandum signed by them, urging action against the elected representatives from Punjab. Seven MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajender Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahni and Swati Maliwal, switched to the BJP on April 24, making up two-thirds of the AAP’s strength in the Upper House. Six of these seven MPs are from Punjab while Maliwal is from Delhi.
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Mann calls defections ‘killing democracy’
While Mann met the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 12 noon, his ministers and aides were stopped near Rail Bhavan. After the meeting, Mann said he briefed the president on what he called “the killing of democracy.” He added, “How can a group of representatives demand division and form a separate party and then merge with another party? This type of arbitrariness cannot be allowed.”
He also wondered how the BJP, which has only two MPs in Punjab, now has six Rajya Sabha MPs. “How could this happen? Isn’t this a mockery of the Constitution?” He said.
Mann called for a constitutional provision allowing the “recall” of elected representatives, adding that dissidents should have resigned before joining another party. Responding to allegations of vendetta politics by Chadha and other rebel MPs, Mann said joining the BJP did not provide a ‘suraksha kavach’ (protective shield) against legal action.
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Earlier in the day, Chadha and other MPs, including Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta, met the President and submitted their representation alleging “politically motivated” action against them after their exit from AAP.
