Seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs Merge with BJP in Major Political Shift

Seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs, led by Raghav Chadha, have officially merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This move significantly alters the Rajya Sabha's composition, boosting the BJP's numbers to 113 and the NDA's to over 140, while reducing AAP's strength to three.

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat took cognisance of the request made by Raghav Chadha and six other MPs of the AAP to merge with the BJP on Monday, updating the Upper House roster. With the merger, BJP's strength rose to 113, while the NDA crossed the 140 mark in the Rajya Sabha with the effective strength of 244. The strength of AAP has fallen to three after the Chairman accepted the merger.

Raghav Chadha formally joined the BJP on April 24, marking a major split in the Arvind Kejriwal-led party and a significant boost to the BJP's numbers in the Upper House. Alongside Chadha, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Swati Maliwal, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal have quit AAP to join the ruling party in the Centre.

The seven MPs had petitioned the Rajya Sabha Chairman to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger, which has now been accepted. The AAP on Sunday moved a petition before the RS Chairman seeking the termination of the membership of the seven MPs, who had switched parties. MP Sanjay Singh said he has submitted a petition to Chairman Radhakrishnan seeking the disqualification of all seven MPs in the Upper House, who recently quit the AAP and announced their merger with the BJP.

Soon after the acceptance of merger by RS Chairman, Raghav Chadha criticised AAP, alleging that its members work for their personal gains. "Some people are asking about the reasons behind my decision. I came into politics not to build my career but by leaving my career. AAP has now fallen into the hands of those who are working for their personal gains," he said on social media. "We, a total of 7 MPs, had decided to leave this political party." He promised to raise all the problems of the public with even more hard work and "will also be able to work on their resolution".

Addressing a press conference last week, Raghav Chadha said, "We have decided that we, the two-thirds members belonging to AAP in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP." "The Aam Aadmi Party, which I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I dedicated 15 years of my youth, has now completely deviated from its principles, values, and core morals. The party is no longer working in the national interest but is instead driven by personal gain," Chadha said.

He further added, "Many of you have been telling me this for the past few years, and I too have come to realise that I am the right man in the wrong party. Therefore, today I announce that I am distancing myself from the AAP and going to the people." Earlier on Saturday, Chadha alleged that AAP has deviated from its core principles and no longer provides space for honest workers. "Today, every true patriot who nurtured the Aam Aadmi Party with their blood and sweat and joined it with great expectations has either left the Aam Aadmi Party or is leaving it," he said, adding that every honest and hardworking person feels that there is no longer room for work in the Aam Aadmi Party and it is now walking on a wrong path that no one wants to be associated with.

BJP Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju reacted to the acceptance of MPs' merger with BJP, saying that the seven MPs are now a part of BJP Parliamentary Party. "Honb'le Chairman Rajya Sabha Shri C.P. 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 BJP Parliamentary Party," Rijiju said in a post on X.

"For a long time I've observed that these 7 Honb'le MPs have not resorted to abusive languages and never created any indiscipline and Un-Parliamentary conducts," he added. "Welcome to nation building NDA under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and good bye to Tukde-Tukde INDI Alliance."