India, April 28 -- Rajya Sabha (RS) Chairman CP Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three. After the merger, the BJP's strength in the RS has increased to 113.

The seven MPs petitioned the RS Chairman on Friday to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger, sources said, adding the petition has been accepted. Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are the seven MPs who merged with the BJP.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju welcomed the MPs into the NDA. "Hon'ble Chairman Rajya Sabha Shri CP Radhakrishnan has accepted the...