ANI file photo
NEW DELHI: Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday welcomed Raghav Chadha and six other MPs who left the Aam Aadmi Party and decided to merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party.In a post on X, Rijiju praised the parliamentary conduct of the newly inducted MPs, claiming that they “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 said.“Welcome to nation-building NDA under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, and goodbye to the Tukde-Tukde INDI Alliance,” he added.AAP suffered a major setback on Friday after seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs resigned and announced their merger with the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its founding 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 said at a press conference. With the switch, the BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has risen from 106 to 113, while the NDA tally has increased from 141 to 148, including seven nominated members. With over 30 seats set to fall vacant by the end of the year, the BJP is expected to gain at least five more, moving closer to the two-thirds majority mark of 163.Meanwhile, AAP MP Sanjay Singh has formally petitioned Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan to disqualify the seven MPs.
