'Lotus has become Lootus': Congress' dig after RS Chairman accepts AAP MPs merger with BJP

Congress on Monday took a dig after Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan accepted the merger of seven AAP MPs with the BJP, saying that "Lotus has become Lootus".

Claiming that the decision was not surprising, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that the legislators' crossing over was both a "surgical strike as well as pre-emptive action" as the ED had been targeting some of them till recently.

"The only surprise is that it took so long and was not formally accepted over the weekend. Small mercies make up Indian democracy now.," he said.

"The BJP has hailed these MPs just as the latter have embraced their new home warmly. Till very recently, the BJP had serious questions on their integrity and claimed to have solid evidence on them but all that is now conveniently forgotten. The ED was raiding some of these MPs until recently but one can bet that those will also come to a stop now."

"And the ED raids that may well have taken place against some others will of course no longer happen. It is therefore both a surgical strike and a pre-emptive action. Lotus has become Lootus," Ramesh said on X.

With the merger of AAP MPs - Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta - with the BJP, the saffron party's strength in Rajya Sabha rose to 113, while that of AAP has reduced to just three.

(With PTI inputs)