Raghav Chadha, 2 other MPs quit Aam Aadmi Party, announce split with 2/3rd MPs set to join BJP

The Aam Aadmi Party suffered a big blow on Friday as Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and two other Rajya MPs, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal, announced that they were breaking away from AAP and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Moreover, over two-thirds of the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs, including former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, and Rajinder Gupta, are set to back Chadha’s switch to the BJP.

Chadha, who was once among AAP’s most prominent young leaders and a key face, had played a central role in the party’s outreach beyond Delhi and Punjab.

‘AAP completely deviated from its principles, values, and core morals’

Addressing a press conference with two other Rajya MPs, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal, Chadha said, “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. The party is no longer working for the country or in the national interest, but for personal gain.”

“Many of you have been telling me this for the past few years, and I too have personally felt that I am the right man in the wrong party. I repeat, ‘I am the right man in the wrong party.’ Therefore, today I announce that I am distancing myself from the Aam Aadmi Party and going to the people,” he added.

“We, two-thirds of the Members of Parliament belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” Chadha announced.

Addressing the joint press conference, Pathak said he was going to join the BJP. Chadha said that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha MPs have quit the party and will join the BJP as a faction. He added that several Rajya Sabha MPs, including Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Vikram Sahney, and Rajinder Gupta have also quit AAP. The three MPs claimed before the press that seven out of 10 Rajya Sabha MPs of AAP have quit the party.

Chadha said AAP had strayed from its founding principles.

Earlier this month, AAP leadership had removed Chadha as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, signalling a clear breakdown in ties with the party leadership.

AAP attacks Chadha, other MPs

AAP leader Sanjay Singh attacked Raghav Chadha and said the party made him an MLA and then elevated him to a Member of Parliament and had “given him a lot.”

Singh said, “Look at the history of Rajender Gupta, Ashok Mittal and Swati Maliwal—the party did a lot for them.”

He further said that “all these MPs have betrayed the Punjab government and its people,” adding that “the people of Punjab will never forgive them.”

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal also reacted to the split and said in a post on X, “The BJP has once again given Punjabis a shove.”