How The Raghav Chadha-AAP Break-Up Unfolded

Longtime Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha has left the outfit led by former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, after months of speculation. Six other MPs have also left the AAP and merged with the BJP.

The first sign of trouble was seen in 2024 in the absence of any reaction from Chadha when the then party colleague Kejriwal was arrested in the liquor policy case. Chadha had cited a medical checkup in London as the reason for his absence from coming to the party's support.

That absence along with his vanishing act from protests led by party leaders strongly suggested all was not well in his ties with the AAP.

In September the same year, Chadha did meet Kejriwal after returning from London. That meeting briefly made it look like they were still on good terms.

This perception shattered when in early 2025 the AAP MP did not actively participate in campaigning for the party's candidates in the Delhi assembly election. Kejriwal's party was defeated by the BJP too and he was unseated after many years in power in the national capital.

When, finally, Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia were released from jail in the liquor policy case, Chadha made it quite obvious with his silence that he was up to something that would not be liked by the AAP leadership.

The final fissure came out in the open earlier this month when the AAP replaced him with Ashok Kumar Mittal as the Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha. Any opportunity for Chadha to speak in the house on behalf of the AAP was also removed by the party.

Following the replacement, Chadha posted on X that he was "silenced but not defeated." He questioned the party whether raising issues in public interest was a "crime".

The AAP said Chadha has been compromised because he had been silent on matters that the party wanted to take up.

"I am telling you the real reason as to why I distanced myself from party activities. I did not want to be a part of their sins. I was not eligible for their friendship because I was not a part of their crime. We had just two options - either quit politics and give up our public work in the last 15-16 years or we do positive politics with our energy and experience," Chadha said today.

"So, we have decided that we, the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP."