In a political earthquake that has shaken the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to its foundations, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha — once the party's most polished face, its de-facto campaign architect in Punjab, and Arvind Kejriwal's most trusted lieutenant — walked out of AAP on Friday and announced to merge into the BJP, taking seven of the party's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs with him.
The Rise: CA Turned Crusader
Chadha, born in 1988, is a chartered accountant who worked with Deloitte and Grant Thornton before politics claimed him. He joined AAP at the age of 23 at its very inception and was part of the team that drafted the Delhi Lokpal Bill in 2012 — his first political assignment, assigned personally by Kejriwal.
He became AAP's youngest national spokesperson, its most articulate TV debater, and built a reputation as the party's suave, data-driven face at a time when AAP was defined by street protest.
Then, in 2015, at just 26, he was entrusted with the party's finances.
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The Delhi Years: MLA, Jal Board And A Rajya Sabha Ticket
In February 2020, Chadha contested from Rajinder Nagar in the Delhi assembly election and won against BJP's RP Singh with a margin of 20,058 votes, polling a massive 57.06 per cent of total votes.
Following the election, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, where he focused on providing clean 24x7 piped water supply and cleaning the Yamuna River, significantly improving Delhi's water management systems.
The Jal Board role gave him an administrative identity beyond television studios — positioning him as a doer, not just a debater.
On March 21, 2022, he was nominated by AAP for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab for a six-year term, and was also appointed a member of Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance — the committee that oversees laws and policies drafted by three union ministries and the NITI Aayog.
The Upper House berth marked his transition from a state-level operator to a national political figure — and set the stage for both his greatest influence and, eventually, his undoing.
The Punjab Highpoint: The 'Super CM' Phase
In 2020, Chadha was appointed AAP's Punjab co-in-charge for the 2022 assembly elections, playing a crucial role in the party's landslide victory where AAP won 92 out of 117 seats.
Following the Punjab triumph, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appointed him chairman of an advisory panel.
His perceived influence over the state administration made him widely viewed as the de-facto architect of the campaign — and drew criticism from within Punjab's local leadership, who described him as acting like a "Super CM."
He was also elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab that year only.
Today, exercising the provisions of the Constitution of India, more than two-thirds of the AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha have merged with the BJP.
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) April 24, 2026
Seven MPs have signed the document, which was submitted to the Hon'ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
I, along with two other MPs,…
The Cracks: Silence When It Mattered
The rupture began during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. When Kejriwal and other top leaders were arrested in the Delhi excise policy case, Chadha's absence — attributed to emergency eye surgery in London — raised eyebrows.
In early 2026, when a Delhi court cleared Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the excise case, Chadha remained notably quiet on social media, missing entirely from the party's victory celebrations.
AAP accused him of refusing to criticise Prime Minister Modi and the Centre in Parliament, and of engaging in "soft PR" instead.
ALSO READ | Why Did Raghav Chadha Quit Aam Aadmi Party? Here's What Rajya Sabha MP Says
The Demotion And The Breaking Point
On April 2, 2026, AAP suddenly removed Chadha from the post of its deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, replacing him with Punjab MP Ashok Kumar Mittal. The party also moved to restrict his speaking time in Parliament from its quota — a humiliation Chadha responded to publicly. "I am silenced, not defeated," he said, posting a video on X asking whether raising public issues in Parliament was "a crime."
The Exit: 'Right Man In The Wrong Party'
On Friday, Chadha walked into a press conference with Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal and announced the end of a 15-year relationship. "The Aam Aadmi Party, which I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth, has now completely deviated from its principles, values, and core morals," he said. "I am the right man in the wrong party."
Along with Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Singh Sahney also quit — taking the total to seven of AAP's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs merging into the BJP.
AAP immediately accused the BJP of executing "Operation Lotus," alleging the ruling party had used state machinery and investigative agencies to poach its MPs.
The merger, if accepted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman, would extinguish AAP's presence in the Upper House almost entirely — a devastating blow to a party already reeling from electoral losses in Delhi.
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