Chandigarh, Apr 27 (PTI) Punjab AAP working president Budh Ram on Monday asserted that all party MLAs stand firmly with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann while dismissing claims that several legislators in the state are in contact with Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha.
Echoing similar views, AAP Lok Sabha MP from Anandpur Sahib, Malvinder Singh Kang, also noted that the party legislators were with the chief minister and the ruling party would continue to serve the people of the state.
The AAP suffered a crippling blow on Friday 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 quit AAP were from Punjab.
Jolted by its seven MPs defecting to the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab is focusing on keeping its flock together when it is gearing up for the 2027 state assembly polls.
The AAP has called a meeting of its MLAs in Jalandhar on April 29, which will be attended by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the party’s in-charge for Punjab Manish Sisodia, said party sources.
The meeting is concerning how to further strengthen the organisation in the state, they further said.
Both MPs Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, who were once close confidants of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, had been involved in drafting the election campaign strategy, ticket allocations and building the party organisation.
Both played significant roles in the party’s 2022 Punjab assembly polls.
Punjab AAP working president Budh Ram said all the legislators stand firmly with CM Mann.
There is no MLA with Pathak and Chadha, he asserted while lashing out at the seven MPs for betraying the party.
“They have betrayed the party. Today, we consider them zero. When they are no longer with the party, what does an MLA have anything to do with them?” he asked.
“All MLAs are with CM Mann,” two-time MLA Budh Ram asserted.
“We have worked for the welfare of people, and we are committed to serving the people of the state,” he further said, claiming that the Bhagwant Mann government had done unprecedented work in the state.
Punjab Power Minister Sanjeev Arora on Monday said he would continue to remain in the AAP when he was asked a question about joining the BJP.
“I am addressing you today as a cabinet minister of Punjab. I represent the AAP and I keep on doing that,” said Arora while speaking to reporters here.
Replying to a question on Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, Arora said it has been at least 6 to 8 months since he spoke to him.
To a question on recent raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate at his premises, Arora reiterated that he would fully cooperate with the agencies and was confident that the truth would prevail.
The ED, on April 17, had conducted searches at the premises of Arora, his son and some others as part of a foreign exchange violation probe linked to alleged insider trading in stock markets and round-tripping of betting funds from the UAE to India.
On Sunday, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh dismissed claims that party MLAs in Punjab were in contact with Chadha, who recently joined the BJP, labelling such developments as “misinformation and rumours.” Singh accused the BJP and Chadha of deliberately spreading these rumours.
The AAP has 94 MLAs out of the 117-member Punjab Assembly. The assembly polls are due early next year.
The AAP leaders and workers had held protests across Punjab against the MPs from Punjab who quit the AAP and joined the BJP.
AAP workers on Saturday held protests outside the residences of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, and Rajinder Gupta, and wrote ‘Gaddar’ on the boundary walls of their residences with spray paint in Ludhiana and Jalandhar. PTI CHS SUN NB NB
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