Kejriwal targets BJP over TMC defections; calls CJP ‘good party’
Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener, Arvind Kejriwal accused BJP of breaking parties even as 20 rebel TMC MPs in the Lok Sabha met Speaker Om Birla seeking a separate seating arrangement in the House. He also called the Cockroach Janta Party a "good party", when asked about the Abhijeet Dipke-founded CJP.
Panaji: AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP of “breaking” parties, against the backdrop of the recent rebellion in Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), saying such things were harmful for democracy.
He also called the Cockroach Janta Party a “good party”, when asked about the Abhijeet Dipke-founded CJP. CJP, a satirical youth-led movement, has launched a campaign demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, alleging systemic failures in the education sector, particularly concerns surrounding the NEET-UG 2026 “paper-leak” controversy.
The TMC faced a drubbing in the recent West Bengal assembly polls, following which 58 of its 80 MLAs broke away.
On Sunday, 20 rebel TMC MPs in the Lok Sabha met Speaker Om Birla seeking a separate seating arrangement in the House, while announcing the bloc’s merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party ofIndia (NCPI). To a query about TMC leaders quitting the party, Kejriwal alleged that what happened in Kolkata and Maharashtra (a reference to the Shiv Sena and NCP splits) shows that the BJP is “basically an immoral and unethical party”.
People vote for a party, but the BJP either “buys” legislators with huge amounts of money or sends the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to “break” parties, he charged.
“This is not good for our democracy. This is not good for our democratic system,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said.
“Whatever the BJP is doing — breaking political parties, weakening the Opposition, misusing the ED and misusing money — is very harmful for democracy, and everyone should raise their voice against it,” he said.
Asked further about developments in West Bengal, Kejriwal said, “What is happening is wrong.”
“If people voted for the Trinamool Congress and elected its 28 or 29 MPs because they believed in the party, and then 20 or 22 of them are lured away and made to support some unknown party, that is simply not right,” he said.
Asked about AAP MP Raghav Chadha joining the BJP recently, he said it was “unfortunate”. In a massive jolt to the AAP, seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha members, including Chadha, joined the BJP in April.
Kejriwal also said the Pramod Sawant-led BJP government in Goa should implement AAP’s demands over issues related to electricity.
Referring to Goa consumers receiving huge power bills, he said the state government should provide 300 units of electricity free of cost and waive all arrears outstanding up to June 15, 2026.
If these two demands are accepted, 76 per cent of Goa’s population would start receiving zero electricity bills, he claimed.
There are frequent power cuts in Goa, Kejriwal further claimed and said the government could provide an uninterrupted electricity supply if it managed the sector properly.
