'Raghav Chadha Will Join BJP Before 2027 Punjab Elections'

'Who among Opposition party MPs has so much power that they raise some issue and the government implements it? The answer is no one except Raghav Chadha.'

The rift between Raghav Chadha and the Aam Aadmi Party leadership reflects a deeper internal churn that has been building over time, rather than a sudden fallout.

Once projected as one of AAP's articulate young faces in the Rajya Sabha, Chadha's gradual sidelining appears rooted in questions over loyalty, timing and political positioning during AAP's most difficult phase.

Last week, the AAP leadership removed Raghav Chadha as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, sending a clear message that the party was not happy with his conduct.

As Syed Firdaus Ashraf's interview with Sayantan Ghosh, author of the book The Aam Aadmi Party: The Untold Story of a Political Uprising and Its Undoing suggests, the turning point came when several top AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, were arrested in connection with the liquor policy case.

At a time when the party expected its senior leaders to take charge and mobilise political resistance, Chadha was notably absent on the ground. He was in London, reportedly undergoing an eye operation, and remained there for an extended period even as the crisis deepened.

His absence -- and more importantly, his silence -- stood in stark contrast to the urgency of the moment for his party.

"When Kejriwal and other top AAP leaders were arrested, Raghav Chadha was requested to come back and lead the protest because they were in dire need of leaders but he did not come," points out Ghosh.

Raghav Chadha has said on his X account that he is silenced but not defeated. What is he trying to convey?

Raghav Chadha was not talking about the Aam Aadmi Party for the past few years. He was, though, talking about the aam aadmi (common man) but not the Aam Aadmi Party.

Maybe he is trying to say he will continue to speak about the Aam Aadmi Party later but it doesn't matter much because whatever has happened between AAP and Chadha at this point of time should have happened much earlier.

It didn't happen because AAP didn't want it to.

'Chadha is a very ambitious person but not a great leader'

What options does Chadha have now? Will he join the BJP?

He will not join right away. He is a very ambitious person but not a great leader.

If he has to join the BJP he will negotiate hard, and if the negotiations are met properly he will join (them).

If I am right on my part, as I am not a part of AAP but as an author, I can only say that this will happen before the Punjab assembly elections of 2027.

What went wrong between Chadha and Arvind Kejriwal? Everyone close to Kejriwal either quits or is sacked, right from Prashant Bhushan to Yogendra Yadav to Raghav Chadha.

You cannot generalise about people quitting AAP as it would be too harsh on his (Kejriwal's) political leadership. Everyone who quit AAP or was asked to leave left the party for different reasons.

Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav left the party at a time when the party was being constructed and they were unhappy about his leadership so they had differences.

I don't think Arvind Kejriwal is a different kind of political leader from other party leaders. He is just like any other political leader of India. There is no difference.

Does it mean then that AAP is Arvind Kejriwal and Arvind Kejriwal is AAP?

This is absolutely true, AAP is Kejriwal and Kejriwal is AAP. Just like you cannot say that the Congress party is not all about the Gandhi family, or the Samajwadi Party is not about Akhilesh Yadav.

In a similar way, AAP is nothing but Arvind Kejriwal.

This is one part. The other part is that other AAP leaders have their own ambitions. Kumar Vishwas had his own ambition which could not be met in AAP.

Swati Maliwal's case was different and so was Raghav Chadha because they (dumped) the party when the party was in a big crisis.

You can recall that when Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal and then Sanjay Singh were arrested one after another, Swati and Raghav, as Rajya Sabha members of Parliament, did not take to the streets opposing Kejriwal's arrest. They did not protest.

So their issue for falling out with Kejriwal is different from Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. In Prashant and Yogendra's case it was a direct fallout with Kejriwal as compared to Chadha and Maliwal in which the issues are much complicated.

'AAP ideologically is in a very confused state'

Can we say that Kejriwal is a bad judge of human character? He gave a Rajya Sabha ticket to cricketer Harbhajan Singh who too didn't stand with the party. How could Kejriwal be so naïve?

The issue with AAP is that the party was formed with the strong ideological backing of anti-corruption and to be a different political party, as they presented themselves with a 'tag' which became a burden for them.

Today, they do not understand or realise what they are standing for. And that is why you see all the people from Dr Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Harbhajan Singh to Ashok Kumar Mittal and all other Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab or Narain Das Gupta or Sushil Gupta who are very rich and not aam aadmi (external link).

(Dr Vikramjit Singh Sahney declared assets of Rs 498 crore; Ashok Kumar Mittal of Rs 91.34 crore; Harbhajan Singh of Rs 81.80 crore; Narain Das Gupta of Rs 11 crore; Sushil Gupta (external link) of Rs 170 crore.)

All these AAP leaders in the Rajya Sabha do not have a political background.

They are businessmen or industrialists and sportsmen as in the case of Harbhajan. Another one is Rajinder Gupta (assets worth Rs 5,053 crore. He is the second richest Rajya Sabha MP).

These AAP leaders are absolutely not aam aadmi. AAP's only two political leaders in the Rajya Sabha are Sandeep Pathak and Sanjay Singh. So the party right now ideologically is in a very confused state.

Raghav Chadha was in London for an eye operation when Kejriwal was arrested and didn't tweet a word opposing the arrest or voicing his protest. How did Kejriwal not realise Chadha was not being loyal to the party?

When Chadha said he was in London for an eye operation there was ample proof that he went for an eye operation in London. There is no doubt about it.

Whether it was really needed to go to London -- that is a different question altogether but the fact is he had gone to London for an eye operation.

Raghav Chadha also posted a picture of him watching Wimbledon in London when Kejriwal was arrested.

That was later as far as I remember. And he was in London for post-eye operation procedure. He was in London for a long stretch.

When Kejriwal and other top AAP leaders were arrested, Raghav Chadha was requested to come back and lead the protest becausethey were in dire need of leaders but he did not come.

Those were tough days for AAP. Why he was not thrown out at that point of time? No political party in India would like to throw out a leader like Raghav Chadha at that point of time as he was in AAP right from the day the party started.

He got connected with Manish Sisodia when India Against Corruption started. I recall Chadha was called for a discussion on Times Now and he could not answer when the interview began.

He shook initially when Arnab Goswami started asking him questions because he was new but when he started talking everyone realised he speaks very well.

The problem between him and AAP started only when he did not sign the letter to impeach the chief election commissioner in Parliament. AAP tried to talk to him but they could not do much as he refused to sign the impeachment letter against the CEC.

'Chadha became very insecure and scared thinking that he will be arrested'

Why did he refuse to sign the letter?

The story does not start there and I have written in my book on why the distance between Kejriwal and Raghav Chadha grew.

The issue begins from the time the investigation into the liquor policy began and arrests of AAP leaders started taking place.

It was at that time that he got married to actress Parineeti Chopra (September 24, 2023). If you go back you will find that Raghav Chadha's name has been mentioned in the liquor policy supplementary chargesheet by the ED.

He realised then that AAP leaders were in trouble. From that time he became very insecure and scared thinking that he will be arrested.

AAP says Raghav Chadha never took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly and rather highlighted only 'expensive samosas at airport' type of issues in Parliament. Is it true?

Yes, they are absolutely right. Raghav did not take on PM Modi and the BJP was very much helping him do his soft public relations. The BJP was taking an active part in doing Raghav's soft PR.

There are several good speakers from the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha but you will find out that it is only in Raghav Chadha's case that the BJP took his words and implemented all the things he mentioned in the Rajya Sabha.

He said the government must provide cheap samosas at airports and the BJP government happily implemented it (external link).

Raghav said in his speech in the Rajya Sabha that 10-minute delivery of groceries has to go and the Union Cabinet met to implement (external link) his suggestion.

Who among Opposition party MPs has so much power that they raise some issue and the government implements it? The answer is no one except Raghav Chadha.

Now whether he did this intentionally or was it a strategy of the BJP, I don't know but the facts are in front of everyone.

Do you believe Arvind Kejriwal has checkmated Raghav Chadha ahead of the Punjab assembly elections next year?

AAP is a small political party and they tried their best to sideline Raghav Chadha.

After the CEC case reached Parliament they realised that whenever the impeachment motion was brought against the CEC it will be defeated because the Opposition doesn't have the required numbers to pass the motion.

However, there is something called whip in parliamentary democracy which every member of a political party has to follow and therefore every political party has a chief whip.

When AAP issues a whip then maybe Raghav will be present in Parliament and abstain or vote against the AAP whip. If this happens the party would have been exposed in public. People will say that Raghav has not voted for the party whip.

Why is he so adamant on the CEC impeachment issue?

He did not want a career with AAP. He is not asking for a career.

The issue of CEC was not an important issue for Raghav Chadha, the issue for him was that he will not follow the diktat or the party line of AAP.

If AAP had taken a line that they will not impeach the CEC then also he would have abstained. Right now the brief he has is, do not follow AAP's party line or diktat.

As to who has given him this brief, I don't know.