AAP MP Raghav Chadha says Rajya Sabha legislative party has split, faction to join BJP

The Aam Aadmi Party’s legislative party in the Rajya Sabha was splitting and a faction was merging with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, AAP MP Raghav Chadha said on Friday.

Chadha claimed that two-thirds of the AAP’s members in the Upper House of Parliament were supporting him.

He made the announcement at a press conference alongside AAP MPs Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal. However, he claimed that other AAP MPs Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney and Swati Maliwal were supporting the decision to merge with the BJP.

Before the split, the AAP had 10 members in the Rajya Sabha.

“The AAP, which I nurtured with my blood and sweat, and gave 15 years of my youth to, has deviated from its principles, values and core morals,” Chadha told reporters. “Now this party does not work in the interest of the nation but for its personal benefits...For the past few years, I could feel that I am the right man in the wrong party.”

Chadha said that he was “distancing” himself from AAP.

The documentation expressing their intent to merge with the BJP’s legislative party had been submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairperson, he added.

The split came just over a week after the Enforcement Directorate on April 15 conducted raids at the home of Mittal, as well as several other...

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