'Driven by hunger for power': Congress' Husain Dalwai slams BJP after 7 AAP MPs switch camps

Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Husain Dalwai has criticised the BJP after Raghav Chadha and other AAP MPs announced a merger with the ruling camp.

Speaking to on Sunday, Husain Dalwai also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for granting Rajya Sabha seats to individuals 'not driven by an ideology.'

Also read: AAP submits petition to Rajya Sabha chairman seeking termination of 7 MPs who quit party


The Congress leader said, "It is completely wrong for elected MLAs to switch sides without resigning. If they wished to leave their party, they should have stepped down first. The way the BJP is conducting politics undermines the Constitution, driven only by the hunger for power.

"Granting positions like Rajya Sabha seats to such individuals is a serious blow to democracy. Politics should be about ideology and service to the people, not fear, coercion or opportunism. True politics must remain rooted in principles and ideology," he added.

Congress has criticised the BJP after seven MPs from its former INDIA bloc ally, AAP, switched camps in the Upper House of the Parliament. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh had invoked the "washing machine" jibe at the BJP and said that Raghav Chadha and six other MPs who shook hands with the ruling party, "stand brutally exposed."

The trio of MPs--Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal--parted ways with the AAP on Friday and subsequently joined the BJP in the presence of party leadership.

Addressing a presser in the national capital, Raghav Chadha informed that Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Swati Maliwal have also switched to the BJP. The move came as a major setback for AAP, which lost its two-thirds MPs in the Rajya Sabha.

Also read: 7 out of 10 AAP MPs cross over to BJP; Raghav Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Mittal among them

Meanwhile, AAP MP Sanjay Singh has officially petitioned the Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan to disqualify seven MPs.

The petition challenged the "purported merger" under paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and sought the disqualification of the MPs under its paragraph 2(1)(a).

Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule deals with disqualification on the ground of defection. Sub-paragraph (1) provides that, subject to the provisions of paragraphs 4 and 5, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified from being a member of the House. Clause (a) of this sub-paragraph further specifies that such disqualification occurs if the member has voluntarily given up membership of that political party.

Singh challenged the validity of the merger, citing the requirements in the Constitution.