In a dramatic political shake-up, Raghav Chadha announced on April 24 that he and a group of AAP Rajya Sabha MPs were leaving the Aam Aadmi Party and merging with the Bharatiya Janata Party, delivering one of the biggest blows yet to Arvind Kejriwal. The announcement came at a press conference in New Delhi’s Constitution Club, where Chadha appeared alongside Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal. He said seven of AAP’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs had signed on to the merger, crossing the two-thirds threshold needed under the Tenth Schedule to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Chadha said the party he had served for 15 years had drifted away from its founding values and was no longer working in the national interest. Calling himself “the right man in the wrong party,” he argued that he had chosen to step away rather than remain part of wrongdoing. The move, according to the announcement, was formally backed by signed documents submitted to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, giving the decision a legal shield under parliamentary rules.
How the rift widened
The split did not happen overnight. Reports of friction between Chadha and the AAP leadership had been building for months, and the tension grew sharper during Arvind Kejriwal’s 2024 arrest, when Chadha was seen as largely absent from the front line. Party insiders later criticised his distance during Kejriwal’s nearly six-month incarceration, even though Chadha had been abroad for eye surgery. His absence from protests, rallies and major party moments added to the suspicion that the relationship had broken down long before the formal exit.
Chadha’s removal as AAP’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader on April 2 marked a turning point. He was replaced by Ashok Mittal, who has now also joined the BJP. AAP leaders accused Chadha of soft-pedalling on the BJP, skipping key campaigns and failing to sign a notice seeking the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner. Others alleged that he remained abroad at crucial moments and did not fully back party struggles in Punjab and Delhi. Chadha rejected those charges and said he had been “silenced, not defeated.”
What Chadha’s exit means
The numbers matter as much as the optics. With seven of the 10 Rajya Sabha MPs now aligned with the BJP, AAP’s parliamentary strength in the Upper House has been severely weakened. That is a major setback for a party that once projected itself as a fresh, anti-establishment force and had hoped to use Parliament as a key platform for its national expansion. The mass defection also signals how far AAP’s internal discipline has frayed at a time when the party is already under pressure after losses and leadership churn.
For Kejriwal, the timing is particularly damaging. AAP has been trying to regroup after its Delhi setback and shift focus to Punjab ahead of the next state election cycle, but Chadha’s exit turns the spotlight back onto internal divisions, credibility and the party’s hold over its own leaders. What was once a slow breakup has now become an open rupture, and the political consequences are likely to continue unfolding in the days ahead.
