Out of 10 Rajya Sabha MPs of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 7 are going to join BJP. This announcement was made by Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Raghav Chadha during a press conference held at 4:00 pm on Friday evening. He said that Rajya Sabha MPs Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahni, Swati Maliwal and Sanjeev Arora are with him.
Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal were also present with him in the press conference. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided Mittal’s residence exactly 10 days ago (on April 15). Raghav explained that two-thirds of the party’s MPs had taken this decision; Therefore, the anti-defection law will not apply in this case.
Raghav Chadha said, “For the last few years, I felt that I was the right man in the wrong party. We have decided to merge ourselves with the BJP using the provisions given in the Constitution.” Raghav Chadha further said, “AAP currently has 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, of which two-thirds—that is, 7 MPs—are with us. Apart from Raghav Chadha, this group includes Sandeep Pathak, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahni, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Mittal.”
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 3 seats in Punjab:
Gurmeet Singh Meet Hair (Punjab)
Raj Kumar Chabbewal (Punjab)
Malvinder Singh Kang (Punjab)
Raghav had given hints two years ago
On March 21, 2024—ahead of the Lok Sabha elections—when Kejriwal was arrested in connection with the liquor policy scam, Raghav neither spoke nor wrote anything on the matter.
In February 2025, when the results of the Delhi Assembly elections were declared, AAP suffered a crushing defeat, winning just 22 seats. In contrast, BJP won 48 seats and formed the government. During that time, Raghav remained completely silent and was not seen attending any party program.
Since the beginning of 2025, the AAP banner and election symbol started disappearing from Raghav’s social media profile. The discussion started gaining momentum within AAP that Raghav was paying more attention to his personal branding instead of paying attention to the party. He neither goes to the party office nor meets any leader.
On February 27, 2026, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court acquitted Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and other accused in the CBI case related to the liquor policy scam. AAP celebrated the decision, but Raghav remained absent.
After the outbreak of war in Iran, Raghav Chadha refused to speak in Parliament as per the party line. Recently, even when AAP MPs walked out of the House following the party whip, Raghav remained present in the House.