‘Their fault’: Anna Hazare holds AAP accountable for Raghav Chadha, 6 Lok Sabha MPs joining BJP

New Delhi: The exit of Raghav Chadha and six other AAP Rajya Sabha MPs on Friday drew a strong reaction from social activist Anna Hazare, who said the leader may not leave if the party stays on the “right” path.“In a democracy, everyone has the right to express their opinion. They (Chadha and others) must have been in some trouble and that’s why they left,” Hazare told reporters in Maharashtra’s Ahilya Nagar district, according to the Press Trust of India.“It’s their fault. If that side was on the right path, they wouldn’t have left,” he added.He reiterated that those who quit the party must have encountered difficulties within the organization. “If the direction of the party is right, they will not quit the party,” he said, adding, “There must be some reason (for them to leave AAP). In a democracy, everyone has their own opinion about where to stay and where to leave.”Hazare is a veteran social activist known for his role in anti-corruption campaigns and rural development efforts in India. It was during the anti-corruption drive he led in 2011-12 that Raghav Chadha joined AAP.Several Lok Sabha MPs quit the party on Friday and decided to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Chadha also claimed that nearly two-thirds of the AAP Congress members have quit and will function as an independent faction.According to the announcement, Chadha said the group of MPs had exercised their constitutional provisions to merge with the BJP. “We have decided that we, as 2/3 members of the BJP in the Union House, will implement the provisions of the Indian Constitution and merge with the BJP,” he told a press conference at the Constitution Club of Delhi.Chadha said this development comes at a time when a majority of AAP members of the federal assembly have collectively decided to quit the party. In announcing the move, he also called himself “the right man in the wrong party.”The mass exodus of celebrities reportedly includes Swati Maliwal, cricketer-turned-Union Congress member Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Singh Sahney, marking a major political development within the AAP’s parliamentary wing.