It was the last day of the anti-corruption Indian anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, when 23-year-old Raghav Chadha met Arvind Kejriwal. Within days, in 2012, Chadha, a chartered accountant by profession and studied at the London School of Economics, got involved in drafting the Delhi Lokpal Bill.
Now after ten years, Chadha will become the youngest sitting member of the Rajya Sabha. The elections for the vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha of Punjab are to be held on March 31. Chadha is an alumnus of Delhi Modern School, Barakhamba, his association with the Aam Aadmi Party started in 2012, he has held several positions. He was initially involved in making the main blueprint of a bill like Jan Lok Pal before becoming the party spokesperson in 2015. He was also closely associated with the legal issues of the Aam Aadmi Party and its members.
A senior party leader said, “When Raghav joined the party, he was among the many youths who were influenced by our style of politics and the style of working of Kejriwal. Where he excelled was hard work. Over the years, he has been given many roles and responsibilities in the party and he has managed them well.”
“From being a spokesperson with rival leaders twice or thrice his age on national television to working with politicians on legal matters related to the party, Raghav has done it well at a very young age. While he was initially teased by party members and colleagues for his ‘chocolate boy’ look, he has shown considerable growth over the years and earned their respect.”
According to party functionaries, Chadha has been able to convey to the top party leaders that he is capable of handling big responsibilities. Before being named as co-in-charge of Punjab ahead of the assembly elections there, he was the party’s top choice for one of Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats in 2019.