AAP MPs' merger with BJP: Punjab CM says meeting President on May 5

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said he will meet President Droupadi Murmu on May 5 in connection with the merger of seven AAP MPs in Rajya Sabha with the BJP.

Mann had earlier sought an appointment with the President for a meeting along with party MLAs to demand "recall" of the state's Rajya Sabha MPs who joined the BJP.

"The President has given a time of 12 noon on May 5 (for the meeting) and I will certainly meet her," Mann said while speaking to reporters.

When asked whether there was any provision for recalling a legislator in the law, Mann said he would speak to the President.

On April 24, the Aam Aadmi Party 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 Arvind Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three.