Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Apr 24: A political storm erupted in the Aam Aadmi Party after party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, accusing it of betraying Punjab, following Raghav Chadha’s announcement that he and six other Rajya Sabha MPs would merge with the BJP.
Reacting sharply to the development, Kejriwal said the BJP had “once again pushed Punjabis aside”, while senior AAP leaders termed the move a political betrayal ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections next year.
Chadha, along with Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, announced they would lead four other MPs into the BJP. He claimed the AAP had moved away from “honest politics” and had become “corrupt and compromised”, adding that a formal decision regarding the merger had been submitted to the Rajya Sabha.
Sources indicated Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney are also expected to join the move. Maliwal’s inclusion has drawn attention following her public fallout with the party last year.
Launching a blistering attack on the BJP, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of engineering a “dirty game” against both the party and Punjab.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also accused the BJP of undermining Punjab’s interests, alleging the party was attempting to destabilise his government.
“BJP has betrayed Punjab. They have no base in Punjab,” Mann said, while drawing parallels with alleged attempts by the saffron party to weaken other opposition formations.
Chadha, once among AAP’s most prominent national faces, had played a key role in the party’s expansion and was regarded as instrumental in AAP’s Punjab victory in 2022. His exit, along with the possible defection of multiple MPs, signals deepening cracks within the party at a politically crucial time.
The development is seen as a potential setback for AAP in the run-up to the Punjab polls, where the Bhagwant Mann-led government will seek a second term.