Raghav Chadha’s politics seems to have taken a major drift as he makes a shift from Aam Aadmi Party to a party which he earlier called ” a party of illiterate goons”. This change is striking as he usually presented himself as a leader of common man to now this sudden unprecedented shift.
In an unprecedented setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha members on April 24 broke away and are set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marking a significant political realignment in the Upper House. The AAP accused the BJP of running “Operation Lotus” to break and poach MPs.
At a press conference, Mr. Chadha said that more than two-thirds of the AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha had quit the party and would merge with the BJP by exercising the provisions of the Constitution. “Seven MPs have signed the document, which was submitted to the Honorable Chairman of the Rajya Sabha,” he said.
Chadha said that seven out of 10 MPs have announced to quit the AAP to join the saffron camp. These are Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney.
He accused AAP of having completely strayed from its core principles and values. “The very party that was formed with a solemn vow to eradicate corruption has today fallen disastrously into the hands of corrupt and compromised individuals,”. He further said, adding that he distanced himself from AAP about a year ago as he “did not want to be complicit in their wrongdoings”.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of betraying Punjab
His party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, through his X handle, said he would urge the Rajya Sabha Chairman to disqualify the membership of Mr. Chadha, Mr. Mittal, and Mr. Pathak for joining the BJP, as their action entailed “voluntarily relinquishing membership of their original party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution”.
Once considered a close confidant of Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Chadha had been with AAP since its inception. He became the party’s youngest spokesperson, national treasurer, and was elected to the Delhi Assembly in 2020.
