Raghav Chadha Removed as AAP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha: What Happened and Why
Raghav Chadha Removed as AAP Deputy Leader: Chadha Hits Back, Mann Calls Him ‘Compromised’
North Desk Bureau
Chandigarh, April 3
What just happened?
The Aam Aadmi Party has removed Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha from the post of Deputy Leader of the party in the Upper House. AAP formally wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat requesting that Chadha not be allotted speaking time from the party’s quota. Ashok Mittal, founder of Lovely Professional University and a Punjab MP since 2022, has been named as his replacement.
Chadha hit back swiftly. In a video message on X on Friday, he said he has been “silenced, not defeated” and claimed AAP formally told the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to stop him from speaking in Parliament. “I am asking this question because AAP told the Secretariat to stop Raghav Chadha from speaking in Parliament,” he said.
Q. Who is Raghav Chadha?
At 37, Chadha is one of the youngest MPs in the Rajya Sabha. He has built an online following for raising everyday issues — cost of living, digital concerns, quality of life — that resonate particularly with urban and youth audiences. He has represented Punjab in the Rajya Sabha since 2022 and held the Deputy Leader position since 2023. He is a Chartered Accountant by training and has been associated with AAP since its founding days in 2012.
Q. What exactly did AAP do, and how unusual is it?
The party’s letter to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat specified that Chadha should not be given time to speak in the House from the party’s quota. This goes beyond a routine leadership reshuffle. In parliamentary practice, party whips control who speaks from the party’s allocated time — blocking a sitting MP from that quota is an extraordinary step that signals serious internal friction, not administrative routine.
Ashok Mittal, the incoming Deputy Leader, said that all MPs including Chadha would continue to get speaking time in future, rejecting reports that Chadha would be fully sidelined from parliamentary participation.
Q. What did CM Bhagwant Mann say?
At a press conference in Chandigarh on Friday, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said he believes Chadha is “compromised.” He said that if Chadha was unwilling to speak on issues like vote deletions in West Bengal, walk out of Parliament on important matters, or raise his voice against the arrest of AAP volunteers in Gujarat, then he was breaking the party line and going against the party whip.
Mann called Chadha’s removal “regular party functioning” and said those who break party lines should face action.
Q. What did Saurabh Bhardwaj say?
AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj posted his own video on X, criticising Chadha for focusing only on “soft issues” and not supporting the party on contentious political topics — including never questioning PM Narendra Modi or walking out of the House when other opposition parties did so as a form of protest.
Bhardwaj also attacked Chadha for his absence when the party was under fire in the excise policy case. “All our political leaders were in jail. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in a false case — but you were not even in the country,” he said — a pointed reference to Chadha’s stay in London for eye surgery during Kejriwal’s arrest in 2024.
Q. What has Chadha said in his defence?
Chadha questioned whether raising public issues in Parliament amounts to a mistake. “Whenever I get a chance to speak in Parliament, I raise public issues. Maybe I raise topics not usually raised… but is raising public issues a crime?” he said, framing the action against him as an attempt to silence a voice that speaks for the common people. He concluded his video message asserting that while he may have been restricted institutionally, his resolve remains unchanged.
Q. What is Chadha’s actual track record in Parliament?
Chadha has raised issues including high airport food prices, challenges faced by delivery workers, food adulteration, toll and banking charges, taxation on content creators, and telecom practices like frequent forced recharges and lack of data rollover. His supporters argue this is precisely the kind of citizen-centric work an MP should be doing.
Q. What’s the deeper backstory?
Once Kejriwal’s blue-eyed boy who sprinted up AAP ranks, Chadha has been growing progressively distant from the party since 2024 — when he was conspicuous by his absence at the time of Kejriwal’s arrest in the Delhi excise matter.
Chadha had previously enjoyed significant influence in the Punjab unit of AAP and was made an adviser to CM Bhagwant Mann — but his interventions were reportedly resented by Punjab leaders, and the tables turned with Mann becoming the undisputed leader of the AAP camp in the state.
He is the second AAP Rajya Sabha MP after Swati Maliwal to be seen as having differences with the leadership.
Q. Is Chadha leaving AAP? Joining BJP?
Sanjay Singh dismissed speculation that Chadha might join the BJP ahead of the Punjab elections, saying he does not believe this to be true and that internal problems would be resolved through discussions. Chadha has made no statement about leaving the party.
Q. What happens next?
Chadha’s Rajya Sabha term runs until 2028. Punjab goes to the polls in 2027. Whether this is a disciplinary signal or the beginning of a full rupture will become clear in the coming weeks — particularly whether Chadha attends party events and how he votes in the House.
