New Delhi:
Raghav Chadha, a senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP, announced today that he is quitting the party and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with a significant number of other AAP members in the Upper House.
This development marks a major setback for AAP and its leader, Arvind Kejriwal.
Chadha, 37, claimed that about two-thirds of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs are leaving the party to join the BJP. Besides Chadha, the MPs named as joining the BJP include Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney.
READ | Raghav Chadha To Join BJP, Says 2/3rds Of AAP Rajya Sabha MPs Also Merging
AAP currently has 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, with a large chunk from Punjab.
Addressing the media along with senior AAP MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, Chadha said he had dedicated 15 years to the party but felt it had moved away from the “honest politics” it once championed.
“The AAP that I gave 15 years of my life to… Now the party has stepped away from honest politics. I am the right man in the wrong party. I am moving away from the party and going closer to the people,” he said.
READ | Arvind Kejriwal On Raghav Chadha’s Shocker For AAP: “BJP Has Again Betrayed Punjab”
“As per the Constitution, two-thirds of the total MPs of a party can merge with another party,” Chadha said. “We have submitted a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan in this regard today… submitting all the documents required.”
Had Chadha resigned alone, he would have immediately lost his Rajya Sabha membership under the anti-defection law. According to the Constitution, a Rajya Sabha member is protected from disqualification only if at least two-thirds of the party’s legislators agree to a merger with another party.
READ | “Gave Everything To Raghav Chadha, He Ended Up In BJP’s Lap”: AAP
Chadha accused the party of drifting from its original anti-corruption roots that helped it gain power in Delhi.
This mass exit comes weeks after Chadha was removed as AAP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha and replaced by Ashok Mittal. There have been reports of growing internal tensions, including differences with the party leadership over various issues.
Reacting to the move, AAP leader Sanjay Singh held a press conference to slam the seven MPs.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party, under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, has launched ‘Operation Lotus’, which is being described as a game of cheap politics and an attempt to obstruct the good work of the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab on a large scale,” Singh claimed.