Today, on 24 April 2026, Aam Aadmi Party (Punjab) has suffered a big political setback. 7 Rajya Sabha members of ‘AAP’ including Raghav Chadha have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
SNPNEWS.IN News (Gurmail Kamboj): Aam Aadmi Party has suffered a big setback at the national and Punjab levels. 7 Rajya Sabha members of AAP including Punjab have today left AAP and joined the fold of the Bharatiya Janata Party. After which there has been an earthquake in Punjab politics.
After the 2022 assembly elections, ignoring its cadre (volunteers) and being leaders from states outside Punjab to give them positions at the behest of the party’s central leadership and sending businessmen and people from outside the state to the Rajya Sabha instead of volunteers has become a headache for the leaders of the current ruling party ‘AAP’ and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The party won 92 out of 117 seats in 2022 by the name of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who (Mann) has been seen working for the central leadership of AAP leaving Punjab in the last 4 years. Mann has created problems for the 2027 elections by ignoring loyal volunteers.
Today, Rajya Sabha members from Punjab Raghav Chadha, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Vikramjit Singh Sahni, Sanjeev Arora, Rajinder Gupta, and Swati Maliwal (from Delhi) said goodbye to AAP and joined the BJP. Now, the Aam Aadmi Party is left with only 3 members (Sanjay Singh, Balbir Singh Seechewal, and N.D. Gupta) in the Rajya Sabha.
Raghav Chadha, giving the reason for leaving the party, said that AAP has deviated from its principles and is mired in corruption. According to Raghav Chadha, the departure of 7 out of 10 members fulfills the condition of two-thirds majority. Therefore, as per the constitutional rules, their Rajya Sabha membership will not be cancelled. He has submitted the documents in this regard to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
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On the other hand, AAP leaders have termed it as BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ and have alleged that it is a conspiracy to topple the elected government of Punjab. The party has termed the departing members as ‘traitors’ and said that the public will never forgive them.
Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders have termed it as a moral defeat of Bhagwant Mann. They said that AAP has betrayed Punjabis. The Akali Dal says that these members were never associated with the interests of Punjab, they were only hungry for power. He asked where those who used to talk about ‘revolution’ have gone today?
Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring termed it as ‘buying and selling of democracy’ by the BJP. The Congress alleged that there was an internal collusion between the AAP and the BJP which has now become public. According to Congress leaders, Bhagwant Mann has failed to keep his members united.
Hashtags like #TraitorsOfPunjab and #AAPCrisis are trending on social media, where people are strongly criticising Raghav Chadha and other members.