5 min readChandigarhMay 5, 2026 09:38 AM IST
With Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann leading the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s delegation of 90 MLAs to meet President Droupadi Murmu in Delhi to demand a “recall” of the Rajya Sabha MPs who joined the BJP, the day in Punjab politics started early Tuesday.
Mann’s convoy, comprising his Z-plus security bandobast and three luxury buses carrying the MLAs, left for Delhi early in the morning, with the legislators and ministers carrying placards featuring photographs of seven Rajya Sabha MPs who recently defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party, some of which read “Punjab’s traitors”.
The AAP has carefully crafted Mann’s meeting with President Murmu as both a political signal and an internal exercise in discipline, unity, and cohesion, with plans to take all MLAs to Delhi.
The AAP has 94 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.
All ruling party legislators were directed to assemble at the chief minister’s residence and board buses set to depart at 6 am. An MLA said they started as early as 2 am from their constituencies to reach the chief minister’s residence at 5 am.
The journey is intended to project strength and solidarity at a time when the AAP has shown signs of churn following the defection of seven Rajya Sabha MPs to the BJP last month. Moving the MLAs together is being seen as a step to counter any perception of internal drift.
Mann is also taking along a copy of the confidence motion, which was passed by the Punjab Assembly on May 1. He said “opportunist leaders” change their parties at will just for the sake of their vested interests, which he added is completely wrong.
Sources said Chadha and at least two other MPs who defected are also scheduled to meet the President Tuesday.
A loud and clear message
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This will be the third time since April 24 that the AAP in Punjab is trying to present a united face. The party had earlier called a meeting of MLAs and observers in Jalandhar and later summoned a special session where the confidence motion was tabled.
Earlier, an AAP MLA told The Indian Express, “Mann himself was keen to travel alongside the legislators. But the security protocol does not permit it. Now, the buses carrying the MLAs will still move as part of his official convoy, preserving both symbolism and security. The message will be loud and clear that the state unit of the party is cohesive. This will send a message to those seven MPs as well, who claim many MLAs are in touch with them.”
However, only Mann is scheduled to meet the President, with the MLAs waiting outside Rashtrapati Bhavan. Later, the buses will take them to Kapurthala House, where the AAP leadership has planned a lunch for the legislators.
While the AAP has called it an “informal” lunch, party insiders said the gathering will be politically significant to underline unity. “All the MLAs will be together. This is a commendable initiative to foster bonhomie,” said a leader.
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Meanwhile, the BJP’s Punjab president, Sunil Jakhar, took a swipe at the AAP. “The CM should take care. The entire bus may not turn into the BJP headquarters in Delhi.”
Mann retorted while leaving for Delhi, “Let the BJP leaders say whatever they want. They are not confident but overconfident. I want to tell them that they cannot equate everyone. Our MLAs are standing like a rock with us. I am meeting the President on their behalf. The President is the keeper of the Constitution. Protecting the Constitution is the President’s duty. I will tell you the outcome of the meeting subsequently.”
The AAP suffered a major jolt on April 24, when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit the party and joined the BJP. They included Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, and Swati Maliwal. Barring Maliwal, all others are from Punjab.
Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan later officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing the AAP’s strength in the Upper House of Parliament to three.
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