AAP govt's Confidence Motion passes in Punjab Assembly post defection by Raghav Chadha & others

Chandigarh: The Confidence Motion moved by the Bhagwant Mann government was unanimously passed in the Punjab Assembly on Friday, and AAP MLAs reaffirmed that they stand like loyal soldiers of the party. This comes days after seven Rajya Sabha MPs of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party defected to the BJP.

During the special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann moved the Confidence Motion. There are rumours that AAP will be finished and its MLAs would switch sides, and such rumours create an illusion in people's minds, CM Mann said in the House while moving the motion.

With the opposition MLAs not present in the House when the motion was taken up, it was unanimously passed in their absence.

Taking on those allegedly spreading rumours, CM Mann asserted that the party is strong and is expanding. "The party is strong. From Jammu and Kashmir to Goa, the party has a presence. In J&K's Doda, we have an MLA. Our government in Punjab is running successfully. In Delhi, we are in the opposition. We have five MLAs in Gujarat, two in Goa. Besides, AAP has its mayors, councillors, sarpanches at various places, the party has a national presence," Mann said.

"We built the party with hard work and we stand by Kejriwal like a rock," the Punjab CM further said.

The ruling party had earlier issued a whip to all legislators to attend the one-day session.

In the 117-member Punjab Assembly, AAP enjoys an overwhelming majority with 94 MLAs, while 16 belong to the Congress, one BSP, three SAD, two BJP and one Independent.

When Mann moved the Confidence Motion, no one from the opposition camp was present in the House, barring lone Independent MLA Rana Inderpratap Singh, with the Congress having staged a walkout and the BJP boycotting the session. SAD MLAs and the lone BSP legislator were also not present.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who seconded the motion, slammed the BJP-led Centre over the issue of defection of AAP's seven Rajya Sabha MPs.

Cheema also accused the BJP government of "misusing" central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI, against political rivals. The BJP government is indulging in "gundagardi" (hooliganism), Cheema said.

Kharar MLA Anmol Gagan Maan said, "We will remain loyal soldiers of AAP till our last breath. We have been given a chance by AAP and it is our party which has brought us to this level." MLA Manjit Singh Bilaspur said they will continue to stand by the party like a rock. "We are with the party and we will continue to remain in the party," said Bilaspur, MLA from the Nihal Singh Wala seat.

Minister Sanjeev Arora said the AAP government carried out the kind of work for people's welfare in the past four years which had not been done in the past 70 years by the previous governments. He also spoke about free electricity for the domestic sector.

In 2025-26, Punjab attracted investments of Rs 60,256 crore, which is the highest in the state's history, said Arora, who holds the portfolios of power and industries and commerce.

On April 24, AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs -- Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- quit and merged with the BJP, alleging that the party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Six of the seven MPs who quit AAP were from Punjab.

Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of the MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three.

Earlier this week, the state Cabinet had summoned a special one-day session of the Punjab Assembly on the occasion of Labour Day on May 1.