Raghav Chadha Leads 6 AAP MPs to BJP; “Right Person in Wrong Party,” Says Chadha; Raizada Says “Chadha Is No Saint”

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On Friday, April 24, 2026, Raghav Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), announced that he is leaving the party and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Along with him, six other AAP Rajya Sabha MPs are also making the same move. The development is being seen as a major setback for AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal.

Addressing a press conference, Chadha said that around two-thirds of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs have decided to leave the party and merge with the BJP. The MPs joining him include Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta, and Vikram Sahney.

He explained that under the Constitution, if two-thirds of MPs agree, they can merge with another party without losing their seats. Chadha said they have already submitted the required documents to the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

Chadha also said he had spent 15 years in AAP but now feels the party has moved away from its original idea of “honest politics.” He stated, “I feel I am the right person in the wrong party. So I have decided to leave.”

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In a conversation with NewsGram, former AAP member Munish Kumar Raizada said that AAP was built on strong principles, but over time those principles faded. He claimed that promises of financial transparency, internal elections, and ending high-command culture were never fully implemented, and decision-making remained limited to a few leaders.

Reacting strongly, Raizada further wrote on X, “Today, AAP’s Raghav Chadha, along with 6 other Rajya Sabha members, has joined BJP, thus avoiding the anti-defection law. It’s a blow on the face of Kejriwal.”

He further added, “Kejriwal himself murdered a civil society movement—Anna Andolan… People gave him a huge mandate thinking that he will do something revolutionary.” Raizada went on to allege that instead, the party leadership got involved in “wheeling and dealing” and said that “Raghav Chadha is no saint”; many Rajya Sabha members who joined BJP were “money bags” with little connection to ideology or public interest.

He also criticised the condition of governance in Punjab, saying people continue to face corruption, nepotism, and poor infrastructure, “while the elected representatives continue to game the system.”

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In 2022, the AAP government was formed in Punjab. According to Raizada, the party had promised to eliminate the drug mafia but failed to do so. In 2021, former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh joined AAP and later became an MLA from Amritsar in 2022. However, he later accused his own party’s government of allowing drug-related issues to increase after coming to power.

Speaking to NewsGram, he added that engaging in politics without principles is as wrong as taking up arms without knowledge, and referred to Mahatma Gandhi’s belief that principles are essential in politics.

Raizada further said that the Anna movement created a nationwide push against corruption, and people of Delhi supported AAP hoping for transparency and good governance. However, he alleged that the party later got trapped in corruption and has now lost its original direction, calling it a “failed moral project.”

Commenting on the Rajya Sabha, he said it was originally meant to be an assembly of wise individuals but has now become a space dominated by wealthy and influential people. He also added that Punjab could be the next state to witness political defections.

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