Following Raghav Chadha’s exit from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), social activist Anna Hazare said every individual has the right to take political decisions in a democracy and stressed that party leaderships must reflect on why leaders choose to leave.
“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, news agency PTI reported.
The veteran activist went on to place the responsibility on the party leadership. “It is their (AAP leadership’s) fault. Had that party followed the right way, they would not have left,” Hazare said.
“Had the party gone in the right direction, they would not have quit the party,” Hazare added.
Hazare further said that there are always underlying reasons behind a political decision to leave a party, and these must be seen in the larger democratic context.
“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.
Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal were closely associated during the 2011 anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal worked alongside Hazare during protests and fasts held in Delhi.
Hazare’s remarks came after Chadha announced that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with six other AAP MPs, a move that amounted to two‑thirds of the Arvind Kejriwal‑led party’s total strength in the Rajya Sabha breaking away.
While Chadha accused the AAP of corruption as the deciding factor behind his exit, the party termed the move a “betrayal” of the people of Punjab. Chadha is a Rajya Sabha member from the state.
In a press conference a day earlier, the 37‑year‑old leader quit the AAP, levelling serious corruption charges against the party leadership.
“I gave the AAP 15 years of my life. Now the party has stepped away from honest politics. I am moving away and going close to the people. Today, the AAP is corrupt and compromised. It is not the old party. I don’t want to engage in the wrongdoings of AAP,” he said.
Chadha’s merger with the BJP follows a major controversy earlier this month, after the AAP removed him as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, a move that brought their rift into the open. The party had also requested the Rajya Sabha Chairman that Chadha should not be allotted time from the party’s quota to speak in the
House.
Chadha later confronted the move through video messages, calling it a “scripted campaign” and a “coordinated action” against him.
(With inputs from agencies)