New Delhi:
Hours after Raghav Chadha dropped a bombshell that he and six other Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha lawmakers were joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, AAP MP Swati Maliwal on Friday confirmed that she was indeed quitting the party, attributing her decision to “corruption, harassment, assault on women and promotion of goons”.
In a post on X, Maliwal recalled her 2024 allegation that Arvind Kejriwal’s aide had assaulted and misbehaved with her at his house.
“At his residence, on his signal, I was brutally beaten and treated with utmost indecency. To protect his goon, he went to extreme lengths and rewarded him with high positions. Threats were made to ruin me, and every possible effort was made against me,” she alleged.
She said the AAP has deviated from its founding principles and values at the behest of Kejriwal.
“Witnessing the increasing and unaccountable corruption in Aam Aadmi Party under the patronage of (AAP National Convenor) Arvind Kejriwal, harassment and assault on women, promotion of hooligan elements and the cheating and loot being done in Punjab, I have decided to leave the party today,” she wrote in a Hindi post on X.
साल 2006 में अपनी नौकरी छोड़कर मैंने देश सेवा का मार्ग चुना था। RTI आंदोलन, अन्ना आंदोलन, आम आदमी पार्टी के गठन और दिल्ली महिला आयोग में 8 साल निष्ठापूर्वक काम करते हुए, मैंने हर चरण में पूरी ईमानदारी और समर्पण से योगदान दिया।
जिन सिद्धांतों, मूल्यों और ईमानदार राजनीति के संकल्प…
— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) April 24, 2026
Maliwal, once the most prominent woman face of the Aam Aadmi Party, alleged in May 2024 that Kejriwal’s aide, Bibhav Kumar, had slapped her several times and kicked her chest, stomach and pelvis area in the then Delhi chief minister’s house. Kumar was subsequently arrested and was released on bail after spending 100 days in jail.
Chadha — who was targeted on social media over his perceived silence when top AAP leaders were jailed in corruption cases — announced the merger of two-thirds of the party’s Rajya Sabha members with the BJP.
He said he was the right man in the wrong party.
“The AAP has stepped away from honest politics. I am the right man in the wrong party. I am moving away from the party and going close to people,” he said.
He said he had distanced himself from the party because he didn’t want to take part in its “sins” and crimes.
List of MPs Who Quit AAP
Chadha, one of the most popular politicians among the youth, said former cricketer Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal are among those merging with the BJP.
Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak are the four other leaders.
AAP, BJP React
Sanjay Singh, one of the three remaining AAP Rajya Sabha members, labelled the 7 MPs as “traitors” to the people of Punjab.
“7 AAP Rajya Sabha MPs are joining the BJP. The people of Punjab should remember these 7 names. These ‘traitors’ of Punjab would never be forgiven by the people,” he said at a press conference.
He also attacked Chadha, saying he ended up in the lap of the BJP despite the party making him a Delhi MLA and a Rajya Sabha MP.
Kejriwal accused the BJP of “betraying” Punjabis.
Earlier this month, Chadha was removed from the post of AAP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP today called the AAP a “den of corruption”.
“No one believes in the corrupt AAP. The party, which started by claiming to be a party with a difference, has become a den of corruption,” said BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari.