Mumbai (PTI): Social activist Anna Hazare has said Raghav Chadha and six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members would not have quit the party had it followed the "right" path.

"Everyone has the right to hold an opinion in a democracy. They (Chadha and others) must have faced some trouble, which is why they left," Hazare told reporters on Friday in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra.

AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak addressed a joint press conference in Delhi on Friday, announcing their exit from the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to join the BJP.

Chadha claimed that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha members had quit the party and would function as a separate faction.

"It is their (AAP leadership’s) fault. Had that party followed the right way, they would not have left," Hazare said.

Hazare reiterated that Chadha and others must have faced difficulties within AAP, and that is why they left. "Had the party gone in the right direction, they would not have quit the party," he added.

"There must be some or the other reason (for their leaving AAP). In a democracy, every person has a view about where to stay and leave," Hazare said.

The Chadha-led exodus marks a significant setback for the Kejriwal-led party since its formation in 2012, which followed the momentum of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.

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Ranchi (PTI): A 60-year-old security guard of a temple in Ranchi was bludgeoned to death with a stone during a robbery attempt, police said on Saturday.

The incident happened late on Thursday at the Jagannath Temple in the Dhurwa Smart City area, they said.

"Three persons were arrested on Friday for killing the security guard. They confessed to the crime and told police that the victim had identified them. Therefore, in fear of being caught, they killed him by attacking him with a stone on his head," SSP Rakesh Ranjan said.

"Thereafter, they took money from the donation box and fled the scene. Two of them have criminal antecedents," he added.

Ranjan said the investigators recovered Rs 3 lakh in cash that had been robbed, the stone with blood-stained marks, and the iron rod used to break open the lock of the donation box kept there.

An FIR in this regard was lodged at the Dhurwa police station, he said, adding that the accused were sent to judicial custody by a court.