Rebel MPs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday escalated their political battle by meeting President Droupadi Murmu and accusing the Punjab government of misusing state machinery against them and the delegation included Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Rajinder Gupta and Ashok Mittal and all four MPs who recently broke away from AAP and aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed they were being targeted for exercising their constitutional rights.
After the meeting Chadha shared a strong statement on social media saying they informed the President about how the AAP-led Punjab government was allegedly acting against them after two-thirds of MPs chose to merge with the BJP and said the party which once accused others of political vendetta was now “practising its most toxic form.”
In a sharp remark Chadha said AAP was behaving “less like a political party and more like an obsessed, jilted ex — bitter, vindictive, and unable to move on” and added that the MPs felt reassured after the President emphasised that constitutional rights and democratic choices must be respected.
The development comes amid rising political tensions in Punjab following the defection of key AAP leaders and the MPs’ move to approach the President signals that the matter could take a constitutional and legal turn in the coming days and the meeting also holds significance as it coincided with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who met the President separately.
Mann had said that “there is a difference between elected and selected” targeting the rebel MPs and also submitted a detailed written representation to the President signed by multiple leaders, explaining his government’s position and also said the President assured him that she would consult constitutional experts and look into the matter while stressing that the Constitution is supreme and expressed confidence that a proper solution would be found after due examination.
With both sides presenting their arguments directly to the President the political standoff between AAP and the rebel MPs has now reached the highest constitutional office making the situation more serious and closely watched in Punjab politics.
