Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann turned up in the national capital with several MLAs on Tuesday to show that the AAP commanded the loyalty of its legislature party despite the defection of seven Rajya Sabha members to the BJP.

Six of these MPs are from Punjab, and Mann submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu seeking their "recall", or a cancellation of their Upper House membership. This is symbolic as there is no constitutional provision for a recall of Rajya Sabha membership. The turncoat MPs also met Murmu and complained of intimidation by the AAP government in Punjab.

Later in the day, the party's national convener, Arvind Kejriwal, spoke to the MLAs about preparations for next year's Assembly polls.

After meeting the President, Mann told reporters: "An amendment should be made in the Constitution for creating a provision for recall, as Raghav Chadha had been demanding, so that these MPs can be punished for treachery.... These selected leaders, elected by the representatives of the people, should be dismissed from the House for backstabbing the people of the state."

Chadha and three other defectors also met Murmu. He told reporters later: "We left the Aam Aadmi Party on April 24, 2026, and merged with the BJP. Since then, our MPs are being harassed. First, World Cup-winning cricketer Harbhajan Singh had 'traitor' written outside his house. Stones were thrown at his residence with the help of the Punjab police, and offensive slogans were raised targeting his family.

"Then, our colleague Rajendra Gupta, a Padma Shri awardee and an industrialist running a major factory in Punjab's Malwa region — providing livelihood to around 30,000 people — had his factory targeted. The Punjab government allegedly cut off its water supply, and the Pollution Board conducted raids to initiate its closure."

Kejriwal told the MLAs at Kapurthala House here: "The BJP has hijacked democracy and destroyed it. Even if a party wins an election, it does not matter to them. They use agencies like ED and CBI, money power, horse trade MLAs, break parties, topple governments, send leaders to jail, get votes deleted and added.

"What happened in Bengal recently was not an election, we have been witnessing what has been happening there for months. The same has been done in Bihar, Maharashtra and even in my own New Delhi constituency.

"There is a story in the Ramayana about the Ashwamedha horse released by Lord Ram, which would claim any land it passed through. It is said that Luv and Kush stopped that horse in Amritsar. Similarly, the people of Delhi stopped that Ashwamedha horse. The BJP’s winning streak was like that horse moving forward, and it was the people of Delhi and the Aam Aadmi Party who stopped it...."

He added: "Once again, a wave is building. They are winning everywhere, in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Delhi. But in the upcoming Punjab elections next February, this Ashwamedha horse will be stopped, and after the Punjab elections, the Modi government will fall."