Raghav Chadha Leads AAP Rajya Sabha Split, Announces Merger with BJP

New Delhi: In a major political development, Raghav Chadha on Friday announced that he and six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have decided to merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), invoking constitutional provisions that allow such a move without disqualification.

The announcement comes days after Chadha was removed as the deputy leader of AAP in the Rajya Sabha, reportedly over concerns that he was not aggressively raising issues against the government.

Addressing a press conference, Chadha said that more than two-thirds of AAP’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs have backed the merger—meeting the legal threshold required to retain their membership in the Upper House. Alongside him, MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak were present, while he named Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney and Swati Maliwal as others supporting the move.

Explaining his decision, Chadha said the party had “deviated from its principles, values and core morals,” adding that he felt like “the right man in the wrong party” in recent years.

“The AAP, which I nurtured for 15 years, is no longer working in the national interest but for personal gains. I do not want to be part of its actions anymore,” he said.

He further stated that the group faced two options—either quit politics or continue public service under a different platform—and chose the latter.

The development marks a significant shift in the Rajya Sabha dynamics and could have broader political implications, especially given AAP’s positioning as a key opposition party in recent years.