NEW DELHI | April 25, 2026:
For years, Raghav Chadha was the face of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) aspirational, urban soul. The articulate, suave, and fiercely loyal “boy wonder” of Arvind Kejriwal was often seen as the party’s future. However, yesterday, at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, that future took a sharp, rightward turn.
The optics were stark. Standing alongside six other Rajya Sabha MPs—including the legendary Harbhajan Singh and LPU founder Ashok Mittal—Chadha didn’t look like a rebel. He appeared to be a man who had been calculating his exit for months.
The seeds of this divorce weren’t sown yesterday; they were planted on April 2. That was the day Chadha was unceremoniously stripped of his position as Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha. The man who replaced him? Ashok Mittal.
Insiders describe the move as a “public humiliation”. Orders were sent to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to ensure Chadha was no longer allotted speaking time. For a politician whose primary currency is his voice, this was a death sentence.
“I nurtured this party with my blood and sweat,” Chadha told a packed room of reporters yesterday, his voice steady but carrying a trace of bitterness. “I gave 15 years of my youth to it. But I realised I was the right man in the wrong party.”
The most dramatic twist in this political thriller involves Lovely Professional University (LPU). Just nine days ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the LPU campus and properties belonging to Ashok Mittal.
The AAP leadership has swiftly labelled this as “agency-driven coercion”. They allege that the BJP used the FEMA investigation into Mittal’s educational empire as a “pressure point” to force him to switch sides, thereby securing the necessary numbers for a legal merger.
By bringing Mittal into the fold, Chadha secured precisely (seven out of ten) MPs. In constitutional law, this is the magic “two-thirds” number. It means they don’t simply leave; they merge. They retain their seats, titles and power, effectively dismantling the AAP’s Rajya Sabha presence.
While the ED raids provided the muscle, many point to a more personal “comfort” as the final touch. Moments after the Punjab government (AAP) withdrew Chadha’s Z+ security cover, the Union Home Ministry intervened to grant him Z-category security.
To his critics, this is proof of a “pre-scripted deal”. To his supporters, it is a necessary shield for a man who has just become a target in his home state of Punjab.
This situation has sparked a debate between those who see Chadha as a “gaddar” (betrayer) and those who prioritise the “national interest”.
The reaction from the AAP camp was visceral. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann didn’t mince words, labelling the group “gaddars” (traitors) who have betrayed the mandate of Punjab. Arvind Kejriwal took to X (formerly Twitter), simply stating, “The BJP has once again given Punjabis a shove.”
As the dust settles, the human element remains. Once part of the “inner circle,” these leaders are now bitter rivals. Raghav Chadha, the man who once spent his days defending AAP against “lotus operations,” has now become the commander of the most successful one yet.
Whether this move is a “rescue mission” for his career or a “betrayal” of his roots will be decided by the voters of Punjab in 2027. For now, the “Golden Boy” has a new saffron hue.
