“Elected and selected are different” said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann after meeting President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan as he directly targeted the recent political developments involving AAP leaders and talking further about this Mann said he submitted a detailed written complaint to the President which has been signed by party MLAs highlighting the issue and added that the President assured him she would consult constitutional experts and look into the matter “The Constitution runs our country and she said she will study the issue and suggest a solution” Mann told the media calling the meeting “very positive.”
The Chief Minister also launched a sharp attack on the BJP accusing it of trying to “change and ignore the Constitution” and speaking on recent political remarks by BJP leaders after their electoral success in states like West Bengal Mann said “Punjab is not a truck where you say ‘next turn Punjab’ whenever the country faces trouble Punjab stands in front and Punjab will answer to all these tactics that BJP is using.”
Rejecting claims that AAP MLAs were in touch with BJP Mann said “Rumours were spread that our MLAs are breaking away and today they are standing with me and this is the answer” he added that his government will continue to work for people and will follow legal procedures in dealing with those who switched sides and adds that “Law will do its job whether it is Raghav or anyone else action will happen legally and at the right time” he said.
The meeting comes amid a major political crisis triggered on April 24 when seven out of ten AAP Rajya Sabha MPs including Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal resigned from the party and joined the BJP six of them were from Punjab and these MPs claimed that AAP had moved away from its core values.
Mann however has called this a “betrayal of Punjab’s mandate” stating that these leaders were selected to represent the state but failed to do so and also said that all AAP MLAs are united with the party.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema had earlier said that Mann would demand the implementation of the “Right to Recall” allowing voters to remove elected representatives who fail to perform and other ministers including Aman Arora and Lal Chand Kataruchak also accused the defecting MPs of betraying public trust and demanded cancellation of their Rajya Sabha membership.
