New Delhi:
The Bharatiya Janata Party‘s newest high-profile recruit – Raghav Chadha, formerly of the Aam Aadmi Party – released a video statement Monday explaining his controversial switch to those who criticised the Rajya Sabha MP for splitting the AAP.
Chadha and six AAP leaders quit and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party last week.
The AAP said it had been “betrayed” despite having given Chadha every opportunity, including appointing him to senior posts and making him the youngest ever – at 33 – Rajya Sabha MP.
In an Instagram video Chadha – who sources told NDTV could now become a union minister – said he gave up a “great career” and that he “didn’t come into politics to make my career”.
He quit Arvind Kejriwal’s side, he said, because “this is not the old party” and claimed a “toxic work environment” had been engendered within it, causing him to be “stopped from working”.
“For the last three days you have been sending me a lot of messages… most are congratulating me but some want to know the reasons for my decision. Today’s video is for them and for those who didn’t seen my press conference (last week, in which he announced his realignment).”
“Friends, before coming to politics, I was a practicing Chartered Accountant. I had a great career in front of me but I left that and came into politics. I didn’t come to politics to make my career,” Chadha, who helped found the AAP 15 years ago “with blood, sweat, tears” said.
READ | The Bill That Could Have Stopped Raghav Chadha From Splitting The AAP
On his “toxic work environment” claim, he said: “You are stopped from speaking in Parliament”, referring to the party sacking him as its Rajya Sabha deputy leader on April 2 and removing any floor time. Sources close to Chadha told NDTV then the party wanted to ‘silence him’.
“This political party is now in the hands of some corrupt and compromised people,” he said, echoing the BJP’s ‘sheeshmahal‘ corruption allegations in early attacks on his former employers.
READ | AAP vs BJP Over ‘Sheeshmahal‘ 2.0. Raghav Chadha Weighs In
“They don’t work for the country, but for their own personal gain.”
All this, Chadha claimed, left him three options – leave politics, stay and try to fix the AAP, or to “take my energy and experience and do positive politics” – and the proof his actions, he also said was in the fact that six other party leaders had joined him in walking away from Kejriwal.
“That’s why I, not alone, not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six other MPs… that is a total of seven… decided to break our relationship with this political party. One person can be wrong. Two people can be wrong. But not all seven people can be wrong,” he said.
Chadha’s jump has triggered a row before the Punjab election next year, as well as over the future relevance of the AAP, a party that dominated Delhi politics for 11 years before being routed by the BJP in 2025, a defeat in large part due to corruption allegations against Kejriwal.