AAP leader Raghav Chadha joins BJP along with seven other Rajya Sabha MPs

In a massive jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday, seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal, quit the party.

Addressing a press conference, Chadha, flanked by Pathak and Mittal, said that two-thirds of the Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha MPs have quit the party and will join the BJP as a faction.

Chadha said that party MPs Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal are also quitting the AAP. “AAP, that I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth, has completely strayed from its principles, values and core morals,” he said.

Chadha was recently removed as the deputy leader of AAP in the Rajya Sabha and was replaced by Mittal in the Upper House. “In the Rajya Sabha, the Aam Aadmi Party has 10 MPs. More than two-thirds of them are with us in this initiative. They have already signed, and this morning we submitted all the required documentation, including signed letters and other formal paperwork, to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha,” Chadha told the media.

Hitting out at Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, Chadha said that the party is no longer working for the country, but for its own benefit. “Over the past few years, I have increasingly felt that I am the right person in the wrong party. Today, I announce my decision to move away from AAP and work more closely with the 'janata' (public),” he said.

Another Rajya Sabha MP, Sandeep Pathak, said that he had never thought that this situation would arise, but it has. “For 10 years, I remained associated with this party. And today, I am parting ways with the Aam Aadmi Party,” Pathak said.

On April 15, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at business entities linked to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal in Punjab as part of a FEMA probe.