"Raghav Chadha First To Congratulate Me," Says AAP MP Who Replaced Him

Raghav Chadha was the first to congratulate him, Aam Aadmi Party MP Ashok Mittal who replaced the Punjab MP as the party's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha told NDTV, downplaying any rift in the party.

On Thursday, Ashok Mittal, Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab since April 2022, was in the middle of asking a supplementary question regarding the 'Green Cover' issue, when he was called by the party's leader in the Upper House, Sanjay Singh, and informed about his new status in the House.  

"You will now replace Raghav Chadha as the Deputy Leader," Singh told Mittal, landing a big surprise on the leader.

Mittal, who is the chancellor of Lovely Professional University, still coming to terms with the new development, did raise his question in the House before stepping out around 1 pm.

"When I stepped out after asking my question - sometime around one o'clock - Raghav Chadha was the very first person among those offering congratulations," Mittal, who in February was made a member of the India-USA Parliamentary Friendship Group, told NDTV.

The 61-year-old Punjab MP has been a part of several parliamentary committees, including the Committee on Defence, the Committee on Finance. He was also a part of an all-party delegation, led by DMK MP Kanimozhi, which visited Russia, Latvia, Slovenia, Greece, and Spain after the Pahalgam terror attack last year.

Currently, the party has 10 members in the Upper House, with broad representation from Punjab -- the only state where it is in power.

Out of 10 MPs, seven are from Punjab, namely -- Raghav Chadha, Rajinder Gupta, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Harbhajan Singh and Sant Balbir Singh.

The lawmakers from Delhi are Swati Maliwal, Narain Dass Gupta, and Sanjay Singh.

Raghav Chadha becomes the second Rajya Sabha MP of AAP, after Swati Maliwal, to have fallen out with the party leadership.

Once considered a close confidant of Arvind Kejriwal and among the youngest MPs in the country, Chadha played a key role in party affairs, particularly in Punjab and during the AAP's tenure in Delhi.

Downplaying the change, Mittal termed it a routine process, noting that earlier ND Gupta was the deputy leader of the party in the Upper House, and then Chadha was given the responsibility.

"Now, I have been given this role. Our party wants all MPs to learn, and probably in that context, I have been given this role so that I can learn the processes and administrative skills in politics," he said, adding that the party remains strong.

The AAP is also understood to have urged Parliament Secretariat not to allot time to the incumbent deputy leader. In the past few months, Raghav Chadha has been vociferous in raising issues of public interest and those pertaining to their sufferings.

When reporters pressed Ashok Mittal for a reaction, he said,"Please don't drag me into controversies. I do not wish to speak on the issue concerning Raghav-ji."

When it was pointed out to him that leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party had already issued statements, he remained adamant, replying, "In that case, you should interview them instead. I do not wish to offer any comments."

In a video message today for the "aam aadmi", Raghav Chadha said  he has "been silenced, not defeated".