AAP slams 7 MPs who quit party, says BJP poaching through ‘Operation Lotus’

After seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs, six of them from Punjab, quit the party to ‘merge’ with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP has once again betrayed the people of Punjab. In a post on X, he said, “The BJP has once again betrayed Punjabis.” The AAP said the BJP had triggered ‘Operation Lotus’ to halt the pro-people work being carried out by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab.

Mr. Mann, at a press conference in Chandigarh, said, “The people of Punjab will hold accountable those who betray the State, making it clear that such manoeuvres cannot secure political victories in a democracy where the people of Punjab remain supreme.”