New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) After a political storm erupted on Friday with the exit of seven Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including recently-removed Deputy Leader Raghav Chadha, veteran social activist Anna Hazare attributed it to AAP “prioritising power and money”.

The MPs announced their decision to join the BJP.

Speaking to reporters, Hazare emphasised that the MPs who left the party might have faced some problems within it.

He said: “They (ex-AAP MPs) might have faced some internal issues because of which they left the party. There might be some or the other reason.”

The social activist blamed the AAP leadership for being “selfish” and focusing only on “power and money”.

“If any leader makes an exit, it is the mistake of the party. If AAP had functioned properly, its leaders would not have left. When selfishness creeps in, people forget,” Hazare alleged.

Hazare added: “If the party functioned by prioritising the society and country, then these leaders would not have left. But they forgot working on these principles and instead shifted their focus to power and money.”

He further said that in a democracy, it is an individual’s right to choose whether to leave a party or not.

“Every individual has their own opinion in a democracy. No one should be forced in any form,” he said.

Earlier in the day, MP Raghav Chadha cited the AAP “stepping away from honest politics” as a key reason behind the decision by him and six other party MPs from Rajya Sabha to merge their parliamentary faction with the BJP. The AAP has 10 MPs in the Upper House.

Addressing a press conference, Chadha said: “The AAP that I gave 15 years of my life to. Now the party has stepped away from honest politics. I am the right man in the wrong party. I am moving away from the party and going close to people.”

He was accompanied by Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal during the meeting with BJP president Nitin Nabin, who offered sweets to the AAP MPs after they went public with their switchover plan.

–IANS

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