Mumbai, April 25 -- In a major political development, seven Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party, including Raghav Chadha, have quit the party and are set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The MPs-Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Swati Maliwal-account for more than two-thirds of AAP's strength in the Upper House. They have submitted documents to the Rajya Sabha Chairman seeking recognition of a merger under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which, if accepted, would allow them to shift to the BJP without disqualification.

Chadha said the move was driven by differences over the party's direction, alleging that AAP had drifted from its founding principles. ...