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Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha has announced to leave the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and join BJP. After leaving the party, Raghav Chadha met BJP national president Nitin Nabin.
Raghav Chadha, in a press conference with Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal on Friday, said, “We have decided that we, two-thirds of the Aam Aadmi Party members in the Rajya Sabha, are joining the BJP as per the provisions of the Constitution.”
Before this, many AAP leaders in Delhi have also left the party and joined BJP. One of them is Kapil Mishra, who was once a minister in the Kejriwal government and is now a minister in the BJP government in Delhi.
But Rajya Sabha MPs leaving the party is quite different in some ways because they are not elected by the common people’s vote. In such a situation, what benefit can BJP get from these MPs? Further we will discuss this issue on the basis of conversations with some experts.
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“Seven MPs have signed this document, which has been submitted to the Honorable Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. I myself, along with two other MPs, have submitted the signed documents.”
Aam Aadmi Party’s allegations against BJP
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia said, “The Rajya Sabha members who bowed down to BJP today, who have betrayed the people of Punjab due to their personal compulsions, fear and greed, should know that Punjab never forgives traitors.”
Earlier this month, Aam Aadmi Party had given the responsibility of deputy leader of the party in Rajya Sabha to Ashok Kumar Mittal in place of Raghav Chadha.
After this decision of the party, Raghav Chadha had expressed his displeasure towards the party in a post on social media X. After this, he had an argument with many AAP leaders on social media.
At that time, many AAP leaders had accused Raghav Chadha of adopting a soft attitude towards BJP in his speeches in Parliament.
Aam Aadmi Party leaders had also raised questions about Raghav Chadha being in London at the time of Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest.
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Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi government minister Somnath Bharti, while talking to BBC News Hindi, termed the current development as a ‘trick of BJP’.
He alleged, “All this is written by BJP. After removing Raghav Chadha and making Ashok Mittal the deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, ED reached his house on April 15. First send ED, send CBI, then send him to jail. After this, appoint Election Commission and get the votes counted.”
Somnath Bharti claims, “BJP wants to expand its party in Punjab. They think that with the help of these Rajya Sabha MPs, they will be able to expand the party. But this will not happen, because none of them has political experience. The strength of all is Arvind Kejriwal.”
Assembly elections are to be held in Punjab next year
Assembly elections are to be held in Punjab early next year.
Whereas Aam Aadmi Party had fielded candidates on all 117 seats and won 92 seats. That means AAP has become established as a big party in Punjab.
Whereas Congress, a traditionally strong party in the state, won 18 seats by contesting all the seats.
Senior journalist Rashid Kidwai says, “BJP wants to strengthen itself in Punjab. It does not want Congress to win in the elections to be held next year. In this context, it is important for your MPs to join BJP.”
“Even though they are from Rajya Sabha and are not public leaders, but if we look at their background, they hold a special place in the society, which is very important among the public. Harbhajan Singh has been a cricketer. Ashok Mittal is a big money man.”
Rashid Kidwai also points towards one special thing.
He says, “If you notice, before the year 2014, if any leader got angry with his party and separated, he would form his own new party. But after the year 2014, from Bengal to Delhi and now in Punjab, if there is a split in any party, then the leaders join BJP. Now the formation of new parties has stopped.”
Talking about West Bengal, many leaders like Suvendu Adhikari, Mukul Roy and Dinesh Trivedi left TMC and joined BJP. Whereas in this state, once upon a time, Mamata Banerjee left Congress and formed her own party.
Talking about Delhi, many other Congress leaders including Arvinder Singh Lovely and Rajkumar Chauhan, who left their party after the formation of Modi government at the Center in 2014, joined BJP and did not form their own party.
Now in Punjab too, AAP leaders are angry with their party and are joining BJP.
What benefit can BJP get?
In 2013, when Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption movement was in its final stages, Raghav Chaddha, a chartered accountant by profession, returned to India after studying at the Raghav London School of Economics.
It is believed that the then party leaders like Prashant Bhushan played an important role in the joining of Atishi and Raghav Chadha in the Aam Aadmi Party.
In their initial days in the Aam Aadmi Party, Raghav Chadha and Atishi (former Chief Minister of Delhi) were often seen busy working on policy issues in the party.
Senior journalist Hemant Atri, who keeps an eye on the politics of Punjab, says, “BJP’s competition is not with AAP but with Congress. In Punjab, BJP is accused of being anti-farmer, hence now even Akali Dal will never go with it, whereas Akali Dal has been the oldest ally for BJP.”
According to Hemant Atri, there is about 57 percent Sikh population in Punjab and at present the political system of Punjab does not match BJP.
He says, “None of the leaders who are leaving the AAP and joining the BJP have a support base. But the departure of so many people at one go will spoil the atmosphere for the AAP, which is what the BJP wants. People will wonder what they are doing that they all left.”
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However, Raghav Raghav Chadha has also been an MLA from Rajendra Nagar, Delhi and Chairman of Delhi Jal Board. He has also served as the national spokesperson of the party, but has no connection with Punjab.
According to BBC Punjabi, Raghav Chadha’s family is from Jalandhar and had settled in Delhi several decades ago.
Ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party had appointed Raghav Chadha as co-in-charge of Punjab. He also played an important role in the massive victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab. The party made him Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab in the year 2023.
At present, Raghav Chadha’s political connection with Punjab seems to be only this much, so can it benefit BJP?
Hemant Atri says, “Among those you left, there is no such leader whom BJP can present as the CM face in Punjab, but in this environment, BJP can find some space for itself. Just as Jat vs Non-Jat is done in Haryana, Marathi vs Non-Marathi in Maharashtra, similarly in Punjab, there will be an attempt to make Sikh vs Non-Sikh and there BJP will try to bring Hindu voters to its side.”
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
