CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, along with 90 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, departed for Delhi on Tuesday morning to meet President Droupadi Murmu and demand a 'recall' of the party's seven Rajya Sabha MPs who recently defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The united front is seen as a step to counter rumours of internal rift.
The cavalcade comprised of Z-plus security cover of Chief Minister Mann. The buses of the MLAs are part of the official cavalcade of the CM preserving both symbolism and security, said a party leader.
The MLAs and ministers carried placards with slogans like 'Punjab’s traitors' and 'Punjab Mann De Naal', as well as photographs of the seven MPs who defected.
CM Mann met the President while the MLAs waited outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Later, they will go to Kapurthala House, where the AAP leadership has planned a lunch for them. This gathering will be politically significant to underline unity as all the MLAs will be together and it will foster bonhomie, said sources.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs -- Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- 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 were from Punjab.
Recently, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted the merger of the MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three.
Terming the seven Rajya Sabha MPs 'opportunist leaders' who change their parties for the sake of their vested interests, Mann claimed that all AAP MLAs stand united with the party.
"Only I have been given time for the meeting. The President is the guardian of the Constitution. She is the constitutional head of the country," he said.
"Let the BJP leaders say whatever they want. They are not confident but overconfident. I want to tell them that they cannot equate everyone. Our MLAs are standing like a rock with us. I am meeting the President on their behalf. I will tell you the outcome of the meeting subsequently," he added.
Punjab Food Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said that the party MLAs would accompany Mann and informed that they would raise the demand to recall the defected MPs.
It is learnt that four of the seven MPs who switched from AAP to BJP including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak Ashok Mittal are also scheduled to meet the President before CM Mann meets her.
Mann had earlier said that he would ensure the voice of Punjab is strongly represented during his meeting with the President, stating, "It is our duty to safeguard the mandate of the people of Punjab and uphold democratic values."
This will be the third time since April 24 that the AAP in Punjab is trying to present a united face. The party had earlier called a meeting of MLAs and observers in Jalandhar and later summoned a special session where the confidence motion was tabled.
The AAP has 94 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.
Taking a swipe at CM Mann, senior Congress leader and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa wrote on X, "I had already cautioned that @BhagwantMann might quietly park MLAs in Delhi to serve BJP’s interests. Now with Raghav Chadha meeting the president barely 90 minutes before him on the same day, the sequence raises more questions that answers. At this pace, Arvind Kejriwal may find that the next 'surprise' comes little too soon-even for him. And let’s not forget-Sunil Jakhar had dropped a hint yesterday that Aam Aadami Party and BJP are two sides of the same coin,"
Punjab BJP Punjab president Sunil Jakhar also wrote on X, "As he walks into Rashtrapati Bhavan today, one hopes that CM Sh. Bhagwant Mann will respect the dignity of the Hon’ble President’s office, even if he has failed to uphold that of his own office or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha."
Meanwhile, Jakhar had yesterday said, "the CM should take care. The entire bus may not turn into the BJP headquarters in Delhi."
