India, April 26 -- When seven Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs announced their merger with the BJP on Friday, six of them were from Punjab. One name from the state that AAP currently rules was conspicuously absent from the list. Balbir Singh Seechewal, the Padma Shri-winning environmentalist-spiritual leader from Jalandhar district, stayed put. He has now spoken about what he knew beforehand and why he said no.

Seechewal told local media that he'd been directly approached before the defection.

"Vikram Sahney called. He said they were forming an independent group, and many had signed on. He asked me to sign too," Seechewal told at least two web channels on Saturday.

"I said no. I had no desire for that," he said.

He also said Sahney tol...