The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in shock on Friday after Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha announced that seven out of 10 MLAs would leave the party and join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marking a political crisis less than a year before the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab.
At a press conference in Delhi, Chadha – who was recently sacked as the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha – was joined by his replacement in the Senate, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak, once one of party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s closest confidants.
“We have decided that we, two-thirds of the members belonging to the AAP in the Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP,” Chadha said.
“There are 10 AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha, more than two-thirds of whom are with us in this. They have signed and this morning we submitted the letter and the signed documents to the Rajya Sabha Speaker… Three of them are here before you. Besides us, there are Harbhajan Singh, Rajender Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahni and Swati Maliwal,” he added.
Also read: What the Chadha-led rupture in AAP means for the BJP in Punjab: Only 2 MLAs in 2022, to 6 MLAs now, but with an ‘outsider’ tag
Maliwal, who fell out with Kejriwal and fought a fierce legal battle with his aide Vaibhav Kumar two years ago, confirmed that she has left AAP. Sahni asserted that he has the “support of the Bharatiya Janata Party.” Neither Singh nor Gupta responded to multiple calls and messages.
Six of the seven members belong to Punjab. Only Sanjay Singh, Balbir Singh Seekhwal and ND Gupta remained with the AAP in the Senate.
The young party, which lost control of Delhi just a year ago, appears to have been shaken by the massive rebellion – especially Pathak, who spent years with Kejriwal and was party general secretary, and Mittal, whom the party appointed as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha only this month and who was raided by the Enforcement Directorate soon after.
“BJP has once again given a boost to Punjab,” Kejriwal posted on X.
Sanjay Singh, the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, said he would move to disqualify Chadha, Pathak and Mittal.
“I will be submitting a letter to the Hon’ble Speaker of the Rajya Sabha, wherein a request will be made to declare that Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak have been disqualified from the Rajya Sabha membership for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as this is tantamount to voluntarily giving up their original party membership under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” he posted on the X website.
But if all the seven leaders have already left the AAP, they may be safe. As two-thirds of members resign, including deputy leader in the Senate, Ashok Mittal, members are not liable for disqualification under the anti-defection law, which stipulates that two-thirds of elected party members must agree to a merger with another, people familiar with the details said.
Under the law, the Speaker of the House – Deputy Speaker C P Radhakrishnan – will have to decide whether the merger complies with the anti-defection law. In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP currently has 106 members and the NDA actually has 141 (including five nominated members). This may now rise to 113 and 148 respectively, which is very close to a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
After their surprise press conference, Chadha, Pathak and Mittal – at whose residence Kejriwal stayed – met BJP president Nitin Nabin and joined the party.
“We welcomed Raghav Chadha ji, Sandeep Pathak ji and Ashok Mittal ji into the BJP family at the party headquarters today. Also best wishes to Harbhajan Singh ji, Swati Maliwal ji, Vikram Sahni ji and Rajinder Gupta ji for working under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to achieve the goal of Vixit Bharat 2047,” Nabin said on Channel X.
Nabin also “congratulated Shri Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta and Shri Vikram Sahni on joining BJP,” the BJP posted on its X website. AAP also said in a statement that seven legislators have left the party.
Chadha’s press conference took Delhi’s political circles by surprise although AAP leaders later said they had expected the BJP to poach the legislators.
Chadha, whose relations with the party began to deteriorate about two years ago, said, “The AAP, which I nurtured with my blood and sweat and gave 15 years of my youth to, has completely deviated from its basic principles, values and morals.”
“Over the past few years, I have increasingly felt that I am the right person in the wrong party. Today, I announce my decision to step away from AAP and work closely with the ‘janata’ (public),” he added.
Another Rajya Sabha MP, Sandeep Pathak, said he never thought this situation would arise, but it did. “For 10 years, I remained associated with this party. Today, I have separated from the AKP,” Pathak said.
Mittal said he did not want to talk much about this issue. “Switching to the BJP has nothing to do with the recent ED raids on my business entities,” he said.
“I believe that with full support of the BJP, I will be in a better position to serve Punjab and Punjabis more effectively,” Sahni said on X programme.
Maliwal – whose public fallout with Kejriwal came in 2024 after an alleged assault by Vaibhav Kumar – alleged that the Kejriwal-led party had deviated from its founding principles.
“It is with great sadness today that I must say that the principles, values and determination for honest politics with which we started this journey have been abandoned by Arvind Kejriwal ji and, at his behest, the entire Aam Aadmi Party,” she added.
The rebellion – involving not only BJD-nominated industrialists and educationists, but also senior leaders and former aides of Kejriwal – could hurt the BJD in Punjab, which is scheduled to go to the polls in early 2027. If the party loses the election, it will be the first time since 2015 that the JJD does not control any province.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused the BJP of conspiring to weaken him.
“The BJP and these MPs have betrayed Punjab and Punjab will surely give them a befitting response. With no base in Punjab, the BJP is resorting to manipulation and intimidation to buy off leaders. The leaders who joined the BJP earlier have been sidelined and the same fate awaits these traitors from Punjab,” he said.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Waring said the split was “natural” in a party that “has no ideology”. “AAP should be kept informed because 50 MLAs may join BJP and only MPs have left the party now… The party has no ideology… These MPs have no importance in Punjab,” Waring told reporters.
