The Rajya Sabha Chairman, CP Radhakrishnan, has formally approved the merger of seven former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This move, led by Raghav Chadha, sees the BJPโs strength in the Upper House climb to 113 members. Alongside Chadha, the newly integrated list includes Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta.
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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju confirmed the Chairman’s decision on X, welcoming the group to the NDA and taking a swipe at the opposition by bidding “goodbye to the Tukde-Tukde INDI Alliance.” Rijiju was quick to praise the conduct of the seven MPs, noting that throughout their tenure, they had avoided abusive language and maintained a level of parliamentary discipline that he felt set them apart from their former colleagues.
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MPs Raghav Chadha, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Dr. Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Swati Maliwal and Rajinder Gupta, who quit AAP to join BJP on 24th April, are now listed among the 113 Rajya Sabha MPs of BJP pic.twitter.com/Etof1vbb5g
โ ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2026
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The mass exit, which was first announced on April 24, has effectively gutted AAPโs presence in the Rajya Sabha, leaving the party with just three representatives. The shift is particularly stark regarding Punjabโs representation; six of the departing MPs hail from the state, leaving Balbir Singh Seechewal as the lone AAP voice from Punjab in the House.
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Raghav Chadha, once a central figure and co-founder of AAP, intensified his criticism of the party on Monday through a video address. Reflecting on his 15-year association, Chadha claimed the party had become unrecognisable and was now “caught in the hands of a corrupt few” prioritising personal gain over public service. He described feeling like the “right person in the wrong party,” explaining that he was increasingly hindered from performing his duties and speaking freely in Parliament.
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Speaking about the internal conflict which drove him to defect, Chadha explained how he had thought about leaving politics altogether or trying to transform AAP from the inside before opting to join the BJP. In justifying the joint decision by the seven people, he questioned the possibility of all seven being wrong at once and referred to the climate at his old party as a “toxic workplace.”
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