(Image source from: Aajtak.in)
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal gave a brief reply to the surprising news dropped by Punjab Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Friday afternoon. "The BJP has again deceived the people of Punjab," the previous Chief Minister of Delhi posted on X. Just earlier, Chadha along with his associates - Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak - declared they would join four others in merging with the BJP. "The AAP, to which I devoted 15 years of my life. . . has now drifted away from sincere politics. I feel like the right person in the wrong party. I am stepping back and getting closer to the people. The current AAP is corrupt and compromised," he mentioned. "We have signed and sent our decision to merge with the BJP to the Rajya Sabha. " According to sources, Chadha, who has faced criticism from AAP leaders this month for not being tough enough on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, might become a union minister after joining his new party. It is expected that seven AAP MPs will switch to the BJP, which is crucial as it avoids consequences under the anti-defection law, which requires that at least two-thirds of members from a party must leave to evade disqualification.
The AAP holds ten MPs in the Rajya Sabha, seven from Punjab and three from Delhi. Chadha mentioned that former cricketer Harbhajan Singh and ex-chief of the Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal, will also switch parties, along with Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney, in addition to Mittal and Pathak. Maliwal’s inclusion in that list is not surprising; the 41-year-old completely ended her ties with the party in May 2024 after accusing Kejriwal's assistant, Bibhav Kumar, of assaulting her at the Chief Minister's home. This led to a storm of political outcries and criticism. Sanjay Singh criticized Chadha severely for abandoning the party that provided him a position in the Rajya Sabha, saying, "He has fallen into the BJP's hands. " It also exposed inner conflicts within the party. The AAP had won three consecutive elections in Delhi due to Kejriwal's anti-corruption efforts and image as a common man. However, this success ended last year when both he and his close aide, Manish Sisodia, were imprisoned in connection with the liquor policy case and faced accusations related to financial misconduct regarding the costly renovation of Kejriwal's official residence.
Signs of conflict between the party groups became evident on April 2 when Kejriwal dismissed Chadha as the deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha and named Mittal in his place. Sources close to Chadha informed NDTV at that time that the party aimed to 'silence him.' All of this is happening before the election in Punjab next year, when Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the AAP government will seek another term from voters. Chadha is seen as having been important in assisting AAP's victory in the last election. He became the public representative of AAP as its national spokesperson and frequently participated in TV discussions. At the age of 26, he was made the national treasurer of the party. In the 2020 Delhi election, he won a seat from Rajinder Nagar and took on the role of vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board. In 2022, he was chosen as AAP's candidate for the Rajya Sabha.
