Raghav Chadha, who recently joined the BJP from the AAP along with six other Rajya Sabha MPs, on Tuesday accused his former party of pursuing vendetta politics and said sources had told him he would be the “next target”. Chadha, along with Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal, met President Droupadi Murmu and raised concerns over the Punjab government’s actions against some of the MPs.

“We told the President about the way the Punjab government has been using state machinery for dangerous vendetta politics against the MPs who left AAP to join the BJP,” Chadha said in a media interaction. “According to sources, I will be their next target. The Punjab govt hired agencies to threaten us on social media,” he added. Chadha later said, “The President has assured us of our protection and of protecting the Constitution.”

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Later, Chadha shared a picture from the meeting on X and said they drew strength from the President’s “assurance” on constitutional rights and democratic choices. He also wrote, “AAP today behaves less like a political party and more like an obsessed, jilted ex — bitter, vindictive, and unable to move on.”

His remarks came days after the Punjab Pollution Control Board raids on a Dhaula unit of the Trident Group linked to Rajinder Gupta and reports of two FIRs against Sandeep Pathak in Punjab.

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Pathak also spoke after the meeting and said, “We had decided to leave AAP based on our rights given by the Constitution. AAP is trying to intimidate us by filing fake FIRs. We will fight a legal battle... We are working for the interest of the country.”

Earlier, two cases under non-bailable sections were reportedly filed against him, though these were never officially confirmed by the police or the MP, and it remained unclear what they were linked to. The seven MPs who switched were Sandeep Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Sahney, reducing the AAP’s Rajya Sabha tally to three.

A team led by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann was also scheduled to meet President Murmu to object to the switch. Mann planned to present the concerns of the people of the state, raise the issue of the six MPs changing sides and hand over a copy of the confidence motion passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on May 1 amid speculation over his government’s stability. 

Published on: May 5, 2026 3:50 PM IST