New Delhi, April 24 : In a stunning political realignment that has sent shockwaves through the national capital, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha officially resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party today, April 24, 2026, to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. In a move that appeared meticulously planned, Chadha did not depart alone; he led a rebellion of seven lawmakers, effectively capturing two-thirds of the AAP’s Rajya Sabha contingent. This specific threshold is legally significant, as it allows the defecting group to merge with the BJP under constitutional provisions, thereby shielding them from disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law.
Standing alongside heavyweights such as former National General Secretary Sandeep Pathak and cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, Chadha addressed a packed press conference to explain his departure. He claimed that the party he helped build from the ground up had “strayed dangerously” from its founding principles of transparency and public service. Chadha asserted that the AAP internal structure had become increasingly centralized and disconnected from national interests, famously stating, “I am the right man in the wrong party.”
The fallout for the Aam Aadmi Party is catastrophic. By losing seven of its ten representatives in the Upper House – including Ashok Mittal, Swati Maliwal, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, and Rajinder Gupta – the party’s national leverage has been decimated in a single afternoon. Remaining AAP leaders have reacted with visible outrage, characterizing the event as the culmination of a long-standing “Operation Lotus” aimed at dismantling opposition voices. Spokespersons for the party’s Punjab unit alleged that the BJP used administrative pressure and “central agencies” to facilitate the split, though the defectors maintain their move is rooted in ideological disillusionment.
As the news broke, the political geography of Punjab and Delhi began to shift. The defection of prominent faces suggests a deep-seated rift within the AAP’s core leadership that had been simmering for months, particularly following Chadha’s removal as Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha on April 2. With the formal merger documents already submitted to the Rajya Sabha Chairman this morning, the BJP has not only bolstered its numbers in the House but has also acquired a group of articulate, high-profile leaders. This development marks one of the most significant shifts in Indian parliamentary politics in recent years, leaving the AAP to navigate a future with a severely depleted presence in New Delhi.
Sources: The Hindu, Republic World, ANI, Times of India, and NDTV (Reports filed April 24, 2026).
