India, April 25 -- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was jolted on Friday after Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha announced that seven out of 10 parliamentarians from the Upper House were quitting the party and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marking a political crisis less than a year before assembly elections in Punjab.

In a press conference in Delhi, Chadha - who was recently removed as the party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha - was joined by his replacement in the Upper House, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak, once one of the closest associates of party chief Arvind Kejriwal.

"We have decided that we, the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves ...