Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann met President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday, seeking the disqualification of seven Rajya Sabha AAP MPs who recently defected to the BJP. Terming the move a “murder of democracy,” Mann submitted a memorandum to the President. He was accompanied by 90 MLAs who waited near a park outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan.Speaking to the media, Mann called for a constitutional amendment to introduce a “provision of recall” for elected representatives who fail their constituents.“The Constitution has been murdered,” Mann said, calling the “sudden” merger of the seven MPs with the BJP as “unconstitutional”. “Either the entire party should have passed a resolution, or these members switched loyalty in a way that makes a mockery of democracy,” he said.Mann said he told the President that “we have also gone to court. The President said she will consult constitutional experts and give a response”.Mann further said that the BJP has only two MLAs in the state, yet now holds six Rajya Sabha seats. “Is this not a joke?” Speaking about six MPs from Punjab, Mann said if there was “truly a revolution in their hearts”, they should have resigned from all six seats and got elected as MPs of the party they went to from wherever they wanted. “We would have chosen our own seven representatives again,” he added.Asserting that there was a difference between “elected” and “selected”, Mann said the MPs were selected by elected representatives, so their recognition should be cancelled.”Mann accused the BJP of using central agencies like the ED and CBI as political tools to “scare and then cleanse” opponents.“Ten days ago, there was an ED raid on Ashok Mittal’s businesses and Lovely Professional University, ” Mann said, adding, “Ten days later, he gets Y-category security. In which washing machine was he cleaned?”Mann also aimed a barb at former colleague Raghav Chadha. He said Chadha used to compare the BJP to a “washing machine” that cleans tainted leaders. “He has now gone into that same machine himself,” Mann remarked.Despite the rift, Mann insisted the Punjab AAP remains “rock solid”. He vowed that “Operation Lotus” would fail in a state that “does not tolerate betrayal”.Later, Mann posted on X, “The unconstitutional breaking of political parties… is a direct assault on our democratic framework. As your public servant, I assure every Punjabi that we will fight to our last breath to protect the people’s mandate.”MSID:: 130831592 413 |
