AAP MP Raghav Chadha on Friday issued his first comments since his party dropped him as deputy leader of the Rajya Sabha. In a video message posted on X, Chadha asked whether raising public interest issues in Parliament was a “crime”. Chadha was seen asking in the clip: “Did I do something wrong?”
“Whenever I get an opportunity to speak in Parliament, I raise issues of the public…but is it a crime or a mistake to do so? I am asking this because AAP has asked the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to put an end to Raghav Chadha’s speech in Parliament,” Chadha said.
The AAP leader wondered why anyone would want to stop speaking in Parliament when he is only raising issues that are important to the public. He went on to cite some of the topics he raised in the Rajya Sabha, including rising food prices at airports, problems of gig workers, issues related to prepaid mobile phone plans and taxes paid by the middle class, among others.
“Why would anyone want to silence me?” said Raghav Chadha, expressing his gratitude to people for their support. “Do not think that my silence is my defeat,” Chadha said in a stern message.
The AAP leader was replaced as deputy leader of the party’s Rajya Sabha on Thursday and the role was reassigned to MP Ashok Mittal.
Hours after he was replaced, Raghav Chadha shared a clip on X containing a host of issues he raised in Parliament. The post was accompanied by a 🧿 emoji, but there were no further comments from Chadha on the Rajya Sabha setback.
Flight delays, alleged paper leaks and demands for statutory paternity leave were among some of the issues raised by Raghav Chadha in Parliament over the past few weeks.
The rift between Raghav Chadha and AAP?
The AAP’s decision to drop Raghav Chadha from the key Rajya Sabha post was widely seen as an indication of a rift within the AAP. The opposition also compared the public spat between former Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2024.
“First it was Swati Maliwal and now Raghav Chadha, both key figures in the Delhi AAP, who seem to have moved away from Kejriwal’s modus operandi,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, as reported earlier by HT. The BJP leader also said that AAP’s move indicates that Chadha has moved away from Kejriwal’s “chaotic and corrupt leadership”.
Raghav Chadha’s silence on several key issues related to AAP is being speculated as a possible reason for the Rajya Sabha’s move. When Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in March 2024 in connection with the tax policy case, Chadha was noticeably absent from the protests, noting that he was in London undergoing eye surgery. According to a PTI report, Chadha stayed away during Kejriwal’s nearly six-month imprisonment and met him just a few days after his release on September 13, 2024.
Meanwhile, AAP maintains that the decision to replace Raghav Chadha in the Rajya Sabha chief role was part of internal restructuring. AAP leaders also reportedly refuted allegations that Chadha was barred from speaking in the Rajya Sabha under the party’s MP quota.
