Seven out of eight AAP Rajya Sabha MPs quit party, merge with BJP
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a jolt on Friday as seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, quit the party, with Chadha saying all of them had merged with the BJP, asserting that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikram Sahni and Swati Maliwal were the other four parliamentarians in the group of seven. Their move came as a surprise to many, as the exits were disclosed at a hurriedly called press conference at Constitution Club in central Delhi, after which AAP chief Kejriwal alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had betrayed the people of Punjab while state Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann termed the seven MPs “gaddar” (traitors).
The BJP extended a warm welcome to the MPs as party president Nitin Nabin offered them traditional sweets.
“Welcomed Raghav Chadha Ji, Sandeep Pathak Ji, and Ashok Mittal Ji to the BJP family at the Party HQ today. Also, best wishes to Harbhajan Singh Ji, Swati Maliwal Ji, Vikram Sahney Ji, and Rajinder Gupta ji to work under the dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi towards the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047,” Nabin said in a post on X shortly thereafter.
AAP leaders accused the saffron party of launching “Operation Lotus” to break away party MPs and of conspiring to stop the Mann government’s good work in Punjab.
Chadha said at the press conference that the seven MPs had merged with the BJP as the AAP was no longer honouring its founding principles.
“The AAP, that I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth, has completely strayed from its principles, values and core morals,” he said.
Chadha was recently removed as the deputy leader of the AAP in the Rajya Sabha and was replaced by Mittal.
“As per the Constitution, two-thirds of the total MPs of a party can merge with another party,” Chadha said, referring to the party’s strength of 10 MPs.
“They have already signed, and this morning we submitted all the required documentation, including signed letters and other formal paperwork, to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha,” Chadha said.
Pathak, who held the post of national general secretary in the AAP, also said the party had diverted from the principles on which it was founded.
Of the seven MPs, six come from Punjab, including Chadha, Pathak, Mittal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahni, and Harbhajan Singh, while Swati Maliwal is from Delhi.
The three Rajya Sabha MPs who still remain with the party are Sanjay Singh, ND Gupta and Balbir Singh Seechewal.
AAP sources said the exits were aimed at destabilising the party before the Assembly elections in Punjab next year and admitted that the party was on guard to keep its flock together in the state.
Party insiders said the fear of action by central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could have played a part in influencing the decision of some of the MPs who were businessmen from Punjab while the others were unhappy with their shrinking political role within the party.
On April 15, the ED conducted raids at business entities linked to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal in Punjab as part of a FEMA probe.
Pathak, who was national general secretary, was feeling sidelined as his role was restricted to just the day-to-day affairs of the party, they said.
In the three states where assembly polls are to be held — Punjab, Goa and Gujarat — Pathak was not closely involved, they claimed. Instead, other senior leaders such as Atishi (Goa), Gopal Rai and Durgesh Pathak (Gujarat), and Manish Sisodia (Punjab) were steering poll preparations along with Kejriwal, they said.
After the arrest of Kejriwal in the liquor policy case in 2024, Chadha’s major assignments were taken away. The big flashpoint arrived when he was removed as deputy leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha last month.
Maliwal alleged that Kejriwal shielded individuals involved in misconduct. In a post on X, Maliwal said she had chosen the path of national and public service in 2006 but was ultimately frustrated with the party.
“From the RTI movement and the Anna movement to the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party and my eight years of dedicated service at the Delhi Commission for Women, I contributed with absolute honesty and devotion at every stage,” she said.
“With great sorrow today, I must say that the principles, values and resolve for honest politics with which we began this journey have been abandoned by Arvind Kejriwal ji and, at his behest, the entire Aam Aadmi Party,” she added.
Addressing a press conference, AAP leader Sanjay Singh slammed the breakaway MPs, saying the people of Punjab would never forgive their “betrayal”.
In a post on X, Singh said he would submit a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, seeking the disqualification of Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak for joining the BJP as their action amounted to voluntarily relinquishing the membership of their original party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Punjab Chief Minister Mann alleged that the BJP was trying to break the AAP and had “betrayed the people of Punjab”.
“When they did not find anything against Bhagwant Mann, they tried to break the AAP,” he said on his return from a week-long visit to the Netherlands and Finland to attract investments to the state.
The BJP said the AAP was in “complete disarray” and had become a “den of corruption”. In a post on X, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said, “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.”
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said on X, “The Aam Aadmi Party is in complete disarray. The collapse is no longer speculation; it is unfolding in real time.”
Fourteen years after it emerged from the anti-corruption movement with a promise to redraw India’s political map, the AAP is facing one of its toughest setbacks. Born in Delhi in November 2012 out of street protests and citizen anger against graft, the party quickly turned into a formidable political force, clinching victories in Delhi – first in 2013, then later in 2015 and 2020 – and later expanding its footprint to Punjab.
The latest blow came on Friday as the majority of its Rajya Sabha MPs announced their exit, marking the largest coordinated defection in the Upper House in recent years.
