Raghav Chadha said on Friday that two-thirds of the Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha members are merging themselves with the Bharatiya Janata Party, a move he said was meant to ensure they kept their seats in Parliament's upper house.
Chadha said the signed letter and documents were submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairman on Friday morning. He said the decision involved 2 more MPs, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, along with 4 other AAP MPs — Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney and Swati Maliwal — taking the total to more than two-thirds of the party's 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. Chadha said the move came days after the AAP removed him as the deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha over allegations that he had not raised key issues against the government and had instead done soft PR.
That removal sharpened a break that Chadha described in personal terms. He said the AAP had drifted from its principles, values and core morals, adding that he was distancing himself from the party and getting close to the public. “The AAP, which I nurtured with my blood and sweat, and gave 15 years of my youth to, has deviated from its principles, values and core morals,” he said. “Now this party does not work in the interest of the nation but for its personal benefits...”
Chadha framed the split as both political and ethical, saying, “For the past few years, I could feel that I am the right man in the wrong party.” He added, “I was not eligible for their friendship because I was not a part of their crime.” The immediate question now is whether the Rajya Sabha chairman accepts the papers in the form Chadha described, because that will determine whether the MPs keep their membership and whether the AAP's already strained parliamentary strength changes on the record.