Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Sunday dismissed allegations by party leaders that he had not been raising Punjab-related issues in Parliament, calling the claims ‘false’.
Releasing a video compilation of excerpts from his speeches to counter the allegations levelled by party colleagues, including some from Punjab, Chadha said he “outrightly dismisses the baseless and maliciously motivated allegations” being levelled against him.
He added that these allegations are directly contradicted by the official parliamentary record. “Anyone who has followed Parliament knows the truth. In my tenure as an MP, I have consistently, repeatedly, and forcefully raised the concerns of Punjab on the floor of the House. This is not a matter of opinion, propaganda, or political convenience. It is a matter of official record, available for every citizen to verify,” he said in a statement, adding, “Punjab isn’t a talking point for me. It is my home, my duty.”
The MP’s rebuttal came a day after cabinet ministers and other party leaders from Punjab slammed him for allegedly ignoring state-related issues such as Rural Development Fund (RDF) dues, pending flood relief, and GST losses in Parliament. They termed his silence a “betrayal” of people and the mandate under which he was elected to the Rajya Sabha by Punjab MLAs with the expectation that he would strongly represent the state’s concerns at the national level. Chadha was elected to the Upper House from Punjab in March 2022. The war of words between AAP leaders and Chadha started after he was removed from the party’s deputy leader post in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Another party MP from Punjab, Ashok Mittal, replaced him.
Responding to party leaders’ claims, Chadha said that one of the allegations against him was that he did not raise the issue of Punjab’s pending funds from the Centre. He rejected the allegation as “entirely untrue”, sharing a video of him raising the demand on July 31, 2024. “I have strongly raised the issue of pending RDF dues and spoken against the financial injustice being done to Punjab,” he said, listing the groundwater depletion crisis, MSP concerns, agrarian distress, crop diversification, drug menace, industrial revival, employment generation, infrastructure and connectivity issues, and the long pending and sensitive matter of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor expansion among other critical issues he had put forward in Parliament.
{{/usCountry}}Responding to party leaders’ claims, Chadha said that one of the allegations against him was that he did not raise the issue of Punjab’s pending funds from the Centre. He rejected the allegation as “entirely untrue”, sharing a video of him raising the demand on July 31, 2024. “I have strongly raised the issue of pending RDF dues and spoken against the financial injustice being done to Punjab,” he said, listing the groundwater depletion crisis, MSP concerns, agrarian distress, crop diversification, drug menace, industrial revival, employment generation, infrastructure and connectivity issues, and the long pending and sensitive matter of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor expansion among other critical issues he had put forward in Parliament.
{{/usCountry}}Chadha said these were not symbolic statements but serious, documented interventions in the interest of Punjab and its people. The MP added that his role as a member of Parliament had never been to indulge in noise, theatrics, or performative outrage as he believed in raising people’s issues with seriousness, substance, and constitutional responsibility. “No smear campaign can silence my voice or weaken my resolve,” he stressed.