Addressing the media along with senior AAP MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, Chadha said he had dedicated 15 years to the party but felt it had moved away from the “honest politics” it once championed.
Raghav Chadha, a senior AAP Rajya Sabha MP resigned from his position and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Along with him, seven other members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) resigned and joined BJP.
Chadha claimed that about two-thirds of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs are leaving the party to join the BJP. Besides Chadha, the MPs named as joining the BJP include Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney.
Addressing the media along with senior AAP MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, Chadha said he had dedicated 15 years to the party but felt it had moved away from the “honest politics” it once championed.
“The AAP that I gave 15 years of my life to, now the party has stepped away from honest politics. I am the right man in the wrong party. I am moving away from the party and going closer to the people,” he said.
“As per the Constitution, two-thirds of the total MPs of a party can merge with another party,” Chadha said. “We have submitted a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan in this regard today, submitting all the documents required.”
If Chadha had resigned by himself, he would have promptly forfeited his Rajya Sabha membership dueto the anti-defection law. Asper the Constitution, a member of the Rajya Sabha can avoid disqualification only if a minimum of two-thirds of the party’s lawmakers consent to merge with another party.
Chadha claimed the party has strayed from its foundational anti-corruption principles that led to its rise in Delhi.
This large departure follows weeks after Chadha was ousted as AAP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha and succeeded by Ashok Mittal. Reports indicate increasing internal conflicts, including disagreements with the party leadership on several matters.
In response to the action, AAP leader Sanjay Singh conducted a press conference to criticize the seven MPs.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party, under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, has launched ‘Operation Lotus’, which is being described as a game of cheap politics and an attempt to obstruct the good work of the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab on a large scale,” Singh claimed.
