Punjab CM meets President, seeks cancelling membership of 6 RS MPs

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday met President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi, demanding the termination of the membership of six Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab who defected to the BJP and also pressed for the introduction of a constitutional provision allowing for the recall of members. Accompanied by party MLAs and ministers, Mann visited Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.Speaking to reporters after his meeting with the President, Mann stated that the six Rajya Sabha MPs who left the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were "selected" by the party's elected MLAs in Punjab. "There is a difference between selected and elected. They (MPs) were selected by these MLAs who have been elected by the people of Punjab," Mann said. The chief minister also presented papers to the President, signed by all AAP MLAs from Punjab, demanding the cancellation of the six MPs' memberships.

VIDEO | Delhi: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann says, "... 7 out of 10 of our MPs cannot just get up and say they are going to merge with another party. There is no such law and they cannot do whatever comes to their mind. Had they been courageous and if they did not like the AAP, they… https://t.co/rqiFGN5owi pic.twitter.com/0grzeHsGac

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This meeting followed a significant setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on April 24, when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs -- Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- quit and merged with the BJP, alleging that the party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Six of the seven MPs who left AAP hailed from Punjab.