NEW DELHI, Apr 27: Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the Bharatiya Janata Party, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the Upper House to three and raising BJP’s tally to 113.
Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal and Rajinder Gupta are among the MPs whose merger has been recognised, with the Rajya Sabha website reflecting them as BJP members.
Sources said the seven MPs had petitioned the Chairman on Friday seeking recognition as BJP members following their merger, which has now been approved.
Earlier, AAP had approached the Chairman seeking termination of the membership of the seven MPs who switched sides. AAP MP Sanjay Singh said he submitted a petition to disqualify the MPs who quit the party and joined the BJP.
The development follows a setback to AAP on Friday when the seven Rajya Sabha MPs resigned and announced their merger with the BJP, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had deviated from its founding principles, values and core ideals. (Agencies)
