Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju welcomed Raghav Chadha and six other MPs who recently left the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a post on X, Rijiju commended the parliamentary behavior of the newly inducted members, asserting that they had “never created any indiscipline or unparliamentary conduct” in the House.
“Hon’ble Chairman Rajya Sabha Shri CP Radhakrishnan ji has accepted the merger of 7 AAP MPs with BJP. Now, Raghav Chadha ji, Sandeep Pathak ji, Ashok Mittal ji, Harbhajan Singh ji, Swati Maliwal ji, Rajinder Gupta ji & Vikramjit Singh Sahney ji are Members of the BJP Parliamentary Party. For a long time, I have observed that these 7 Hon’ble MPs have not resorted to abusive language and have never created any indiscipline or unparliamentary conduct,” Rijiju stated.
He further expressed, “Welcome to nation-building NDA under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, and goodbye to the Tukde-Tukde INDI Alliance.” AAP faced a significant blow on Friday when seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs resigned, claiming the party had deviated from its foundational principles and values.
“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 declared at a press conference.
With this shift, the BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has increased from 106 to 113, while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) tally rose from 141 to 148, including seven nominated members. With over 30 seats expected to become vacant by the end of the year, the BJP is anticipated to secure at least five additional seats, moving closer to the two-thirds majority threshold of 163.
In response, AAP MP Sanjay Singh has formally petitioned Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan to disqualify the seven defecting MPs.
