Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha left the Aam Aadmi Party along with six other party MPs and merged with the BJP in a big jolt to Arvind Kejriwal's party.
Seven of the ten AAP MPs in Rajya Sabha, primarily from Punjab, quit the party to merge with BJP. The number (two-thirds of the total strength) also ensured that the party members retained their membership in the upper house.
While speaking on the move behind AAP exit, Raghav Chadha said, "Main unke gunaah me shaamil nahi hona chahta tha (I didn't want to be apart of their sins)".
"We didn't enter politics to make our career, but we left our career to enter politics for the nation. And if the party (AAP) is not working for the nation, it is because the Aam Aadmi Party is not the old Aam Aadmi Party," Raghav Chadha said at the press conference.
The former AAP leader also detailed the reasons for keeping a distance with the party activities, which finally ended with a rift.
“Since last few years, some of you were asking, 'Raghav ji, why have you maintained distance with party activities. I didn't used to say anything then. I was trying to make things better. But I will tell you the real reason today. The reason is that ‘Mai unke gunah me shaamil nahi hona chahta tha. Mai unki dosti ke qaabil nahi tha, kyui mai unke gunah me shaamil nahi tha’ (I didn't want to be apart of their sins. I was not worthy of their friendship because I was not part of their sins.)” he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party has reacted to the move calling it a “betrayal” to the people of Punjab and an attack on the Bhagwant Mann government.
{{/usCountry}}The Aam Aadmi Party has reacted to the move calling it a “betrayal” to the people of Punjab and an attack on the Bhagwant Mann government.
{{/usCountry}}Kejriwal, in a post on X, wrote, “बीजेपी ने फिर से पंजाबियों के साथ किया धक्का (The BJP once again betrayed the Punjabis)". Sanjay Singh said the BJP was conducting ‘Operation Lotus’ against the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab.