India’s AAP suffers setback as seven MPs defect

"I am the right man in the wrong party. I am moving away from the party and going close to people," young Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha told a press conference on 26 April as he, along with six other lawmakers, exited the party led by Arvind Kejriwal.

The above comment by Chadha, who was one of the party's key architects of the party's coming to power in Punjab with an emphatic mandate in the assembly elections in 2022, was ironic as it came from a man who was associated with AAP right from its birth in 2011-12.

The exit of the seven Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs is more of a symbolic blow to the party in Punjab, where the party headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is in power after defeating Congress four years ago.

While the resignation of Chadha and Pathak was expected, what came as a surprise to the AAP leadership is that four more joined them ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, less than a year away.

Chadha and Pathak oversaw the party's poll strategy in Punjab, often driven by data analysis, candidate choice and campaign strategy. Chadha, then Punjab co-in-charge, also played the role of the high-profile link between AAP's Delhi leadership and the state unit.

Many of those who stood by AAP in its early years, activists, professionals and political greenhorns, helped build it from scratch. However, several of these early companions drifted away over the last 14 years, citing differences over leadership style and direction.

The exit of the seven party MPs has raised questions about the highly centralised decision-making structure in AAP, with Kejriwal and a few leaders based in Delhi dictating terms. This did not go down well with the Punjab unit, which helped AAP secure an emphatic victory four years ago but nursed a feeling of hurt at being excluded from a greater say in party affairs in the state.

Kejriwal was perceived as controlling, at times remote-controlling when he was Delhi Chief Minister, Punjab government's policies and running of the state government.

After AAP's defeat in the 2025 Delhi assembly elections, senior Delhi leaders—including Manish Sisodia—turned their focus on Punjab. Sisodia succeeded Chadha as AAP's Punjab in-charge in March 2025, effectively assuming the strategist's role. An AAP leader in Punjab said the resignation of the seven lawmakers is unlikely to cause an immediate operational vacuum.

Chadha's battle with AAP's top leadership had been brewing ever since he was removed as the party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, upper House of Parliament, on 2 April. Ironically, his successor to the position, Ashok Mittal, is among those who defected.

The exit of the seven AAP MPs from the Rajya Sabha has brought down significantly the numerical strength of AAP in the House from ten to three. The move has also hit the opposition camp INDIA, whose strength has dropped from 84 to 77 members.

On the other hand, BJP's tally in the Rajya Sabha has gone up from 106 to 113 following the merger of the breakaway AAP MPs, further consolidating its position to push through its legislations in a House with a total strength of 245 members and reduced reliance on support from parties outside the National Democratic Alliance.