Raghav Chadha Updates: Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha was replaced by Ashok Mittal as the deputy leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, even as speculations are rife over his rift with the top leadership. Party leaders confirmed that a letter to this effect was sent to the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
The Rajya Sabha MP responded a day later, saying he has been “silenced, not defeated”. He added that he has been stopped from speaking in the House, but he has only raised public issues. He also posted a video on social media highlighting issues he raised as deputy leader of the party in the House, hours after being removed from the post. The montage mentioned issues like tax burden on the middle class, data expiry problem, paternity leave as a right in India, working conditions of gig workers and excess baggage charges at airports.
AAP leaders denied claims that Chadha was prevented from speaking in the Upper House. Mittal downplayed the change, terming it a routine process, noting that earlier ND Gupta was the deputy leader of the party in the Upper House, and then Chadha was given the responsibility.
Chadha was once considered a close confidant of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and was among the youngest MPs. He was known to play a key role in the party’s affairs, especially in Punjab and Delhi. The move comes after his silence on matters pertaining to the AAP. He was abroad when Kejriwal was arrested in the liquor policy case in 2024 and met him only a few days after the leader was released six months later. He was silent when Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia were discharged in the case last month and was absent from a presser and rally led by the former Delhi chief minister.
He becomes the second Rajya Sabha MP of AAP, after Swati Maliwal, to have fallen out with the party leadership.
The AAP currently has 10 members in the Rajya Sabha, including seven from Punjab and three from Delhi.