The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday said it will stay out of the Joint Parliamentary Committee reviewing the bills that propose to remove jailed PM, CM and ministers held in custody for 30 days.

It is the third Opposition party after the Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party to do so.

AAP’s Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh said the three Bills were “unconstitutional” and aimed not at ending corruption but at targeting Opposition leaders, toppling Opposition governments and “ending democracy in the country”.

“We will not join the Joint Committee. The purpose of this Bill is not to end corruption because the BJP loves corruption and the corrupt,” Singh said. “The relationship between corruption and the BJP is like that of Laila and Majnu, Romeo and Juliet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP loves the corrupt. In which party are leaders like Ajit Pawar, Narayan Rane, G Janardhan Reddy, B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mukul Roy, Himanta Biswas Sarma, Suvendu Adhikari.”

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien on Sunday said, “More parties calling out Modi coalition’s stunt to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). VALUELESS JPC.”

On Saturday, the Trinamool Congress had declared that it would not nominate any member to the JPC proposed to examine the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, which seeks to dislodge any minister in India if jailed for 30 days on serious charges.

In a blogpost, O’Brien cited three reasons for the party’s decision, pointing out that the chairperson of the JPC is decided by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, with members nominated by parties based on their strength.

“This makes these committees skewed towards the ruling majority because of their numbers in the Houses. The chairperson of the JPC would have been a BJP MP,” O’Brien wrote. He also noted that the Samajwadi Party had taken the same position.

While the Trinamool had argued at a meeting of the bloc last Wednesday, the day the Bills were referred to the committee, that the entire Opposition should boycott the JPC proceedings, CPIM and RSP leaders opposed this view.

They contended that boycotting the JPC was not prudent as it would deprive them of an official platform to record their opposition.

A section of other leaders were also inclined to participate.

The bill proposes to amend Article 75 of the Constitution, which governs the appointment and responsibilities of the council of ministers, including the prime minister.

Defending the bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told BJP supporters in Kolkata’ Dum Dum on Friday, “A government employee loses his job if he is arrested. But there was no law for PMs, CMs and ministers.”

Without naming them, Modi referred to two Bengal ministers who were arrested, one of whom remains behind bars, and asked, “Should such people be allowed to remain in their posts?”