Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, along with six other Aam Aadmi Party MPs, quit the party and joined the BJP, dealing a major blow to Arvind Kejriwal’s outfit. In total, seven of AAP’s ten Rajya Sabha MPs, most of them from Punjab, resigned from the party and merged with the BJP. Since this group constituted two-thirds of AAP’s strength in the upper house, they were able to retain their Rajya Sabha membership.
Commenting on his departure from the AAP while on the move, Raghav Chadha stated, "Main unke gunaah mein shaamil nahi hona chahta tha (I did not want to be involved in their wrongdoing)."
We did not join politics to build our careers; rather, we gave up our careers to enter politics for the sake of the nation. And if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is currently failing to serve the nation, it is because the party is no longer the same Aam Aadmi Party it once was," Raghav Chadha stated at the press conference. The former AAP leader also explained why he had been distancing himself from the party’s activities, a process that ultimately led to a fallout.
For the past few years, some of you have been asking, 'Raghav ji, why have you kept your distance from party activities?' I did not respond at the time, as I was trying to improve the situation. But today I will share the real reason. The reason is that I did not want to be complicit in their wrongdoings. I was not worthy of their friendship because I refused to be part of their sins, he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party condemned the development, describing it as a “betrayal” of the people of Punjab and an assault on the Bhagwant Mann administration. In a post on X, Kejriwal wrote, “बीजेपी ने फिर से पंजाबियों के साथ किया धक्का (The BJP once again betrayed the Punjabis).” Sanjay Singh alleged that the BJP was carrying out ‘Operation Lotus’ to destabilise the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab.