Ludhiana, June 22 (IANS) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Raghav Chadha on Monday visited Punjab for the first time since quitting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in April and attended a key BJP meeting in Ludhiana, chaired by party National President Nitin Nabin, to chalk out a strategy for the 2027 Assembly elections.

Chadha attended the meeting along with another MP, Rajinder Gupta, who also switched loyalties from AAP to the BJP.

His presence at the meeting is being viewed as a significant political development, with indications that he could be assigned a key organisational role ahead of the polls.

According to party sources, BJP chief Navin urged the leaders and MPs present at the meeting to work at the grassroots. “Keeping the 2027 elections in mind, he clarified the newly arrived MPs may be entrusted with important electoral responsibilities within the organisation,” a senior BJP leader who attended the meeting told IANS, requesting anonymity.

Besides Chadha and Gupta, five other AAP Rajya Sabha members — Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, and Vikramjit Sahney – had announced their decision to quit the AAP in April and joined the BJP.

Except for Swati Maliwal, six other MPs represent Punjab in the Upper House.

After quitting AAP, Chadha took to social media to explain the reasons behind his exit, alleging that the party had turned “toxic”, while asserting that his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would help him implement the causes he supports more effectively.

Since seven out of 10 AAP Rajya Sabha MPs have jumped ship together with a strength of two-thirds, none of them attracted disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, commonly known as the anti-defection law.

Had Raghav Chadha or any other MP acted alone, he would have risked losing his Rajya Sabha seat under the anti-defection law. However, it did not apply as two-thirds of the members of a legislative party merged with another one.

–IANS

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