Raghav Chadha quits AAP and joins BJP just weeks after being stripped of Rajya Sabha post

The AAP’s removal of Raghav Chadha as its Rajya Sabha deputy leader on April 2 set off a chain of events. Just weeks later, Chadha and six other AAP MPs formally merged with the BJP delivering one of the heaviest blows to Arvind Kejriwal’s party in Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha snub that started it all

On April 2, 2026, AAP silently removed Raghav Chadha from his post as the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha. Ashok Kumar Mittal replaced him in the role. The party accused Chadha of staying away from key party events. They also said he had avoided raising his voice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government.

Chadha hit back. He posted a video on Instagram titled “Voice Raised Price Paid.” The video showed clips of him raising issues in Parliament. “With due respect, to those who are questioning my parliamentary performance, I will let my work do the talking,” he wrote alongside it.

The formal break with AAP

The rift turned into a full public split on April 24. Chadha held a press conference alongside Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal. Together, they announced they were leaving AAP and joining the BJP.

Chadha did not hold back his feelings about his former party. “The Aam Aadmi Party, which I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth, has now completely deviated from its principles, values, and core morals,” he said. “The party is no longer working for the country or in the national interest, but for personal gain.”

He added that many people had been telling him this for years. “I too have personally felt that I am the right man in the wrong party,” he said.

Seven of ten AAP Rajya Sabha MPs walk out

The scale of the exodus was stunning. Chadha confirmed that more than two-thirds of AAP’s ten Rajya Sabha MPs had signed on to the merger with BJP. “There are 10 AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha, more than 2/3rd of them are with us in this. They have signed and this morning we submitted the signed letter and documents to the Rajya Sabha Chairman,” he said.

Besides Chadha, Pathak and Mittal, four more MPs joined the BJP Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Swati Maliwal. The three announced the constitutional basis for the move. “We have decided that we, the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP,” Chadha declared.

“I did not want to be part of their crime”

Chadha explained his long silence and distance from party activities over the past year. He said he had a deliberate reason for staying away. “I am telling you the real reason as to why I distanced myself from party activities. I did not want to be a part of their crime,” he said bluntly.

He said two options were in front of him quit politics entirely or choose a positive path. “We had just two options either quit politics and give up our public work in the last 15-16 years or we do positive politics with our energy and experience,” he said.

AAP fires back, BJP gains ground

AAP wasted no time in responding. The party accused the BJP of engineering the defections. Leaders said Chadha and others had been poached by the ruling party. The party also dismissed the departing MPs as opportunists.

In a swift retaliation, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ordered the withdrawal of Chadha’s Z+ security cover. Punjab Police, which previously provided that security, pulled it back immediately after the announcement.

A political journey now at a crossroads

Chadha had been one of AAP’s brightest faces. He joined the party through the 2011 India Against Corruption movement. He was the youngest Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab when elected in 2022 at just 33. He had served as Delhi MLA from Rajendra Nagar, as Vice Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, and as a key election strategist in Punjab and Gujarat.

His departure, along with six others, leaves AAP with just three MPs in the Rajya Sabha. It marks a dramatic political turn for a man once seen as one of Kejriwal’s most trusted allies.