The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat seeking the removal of MP Raghav Chadha as the party’s deputy leader in the Upper House, and recommended MP Ashok Mittal as his replacement.
The development comes amid a gulf between the AAP leadership and Chadha, who has been accused of skipping important party events and meetings in recent months.
While AAP sources said there had been “no particular trigger” for the decision and there were no “anti-party activities” that Chadha had been found guilty of, they confirmed that the party had been biding its time regarding the move.
Insiders added that Chadha, who had been unavailable “at crucial junctures” from its point of view—including the AAP’s show of strength following the discharge of leaders and from the excise policy case in late February—had “gradually grown more distant” from it and its senior leadership.
According to party insiders, it was evident that a storm was brewing when Chadha, who has been in the since 2022 and has two more years of his tenure remaining, was not put on the party’s list of star campaigners for the ongoing Assembly polls in five states and a Union Territory.
Party insiders pointed out that going forward, Chadha was likely not to be formally suspended from the party to “keep him from martyr status” and would be allowed to continue as one of its 10 MPs in the Council of States “till he chose to”.
The episode unfolded three days after Chadha expressed praise for the Udaan Yatri cafe at the airport in NDA-ruled Maharashtra. “Visited the Udaan Yatri café at Mumbai Airport and had chai for just ₹10. Was flying to and wanted chai before the flight. Spoke to several travellers while I was there. All of them happy, all of them saying the same thing: Easy on the pocket, good service, value for money. Affordable airport food is possible. And this is proof☕ ✈️”.
