The exodus of seven of 10 Aam Aadmi Party MPs in the Rajya Sabha—including Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, who occupied prominent positions in the party and were its key strategists—is a major setback for the AAP. It has laid bare the faultlines within the party organisation and placed in sharp focus the challenges that the party, founded in November 2012, faces as it seeks redemption after losing Delhi in the February 2025 Assembly election.

The development, which has drastically reduced the AAP’s parliamentary presence, could also have repercussions in Delhi, where the party now occupies the opposition benches after having been in power for a decade, and more importantly, in Punjab, the only State where the AAP is in power and which goes to the polls in 2027.

Besides Chadha and Pathak, the other five MPs who have crossed over are Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Harbhajan Singh. The AAP is left with three MPs in the Rajya Sabha—Sanjay Singh, who leads the party in the Upper House, N.D. Gupta, and Balbir Singh Seechewal—and three in the Lok Sabha: Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Malvinder Singh Kang, and Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal.

That the MPs have crossed over to the rival BJP allows the AAP to cry foul and say that the BJP has activated “Operation Lotus” once again and is using all means, including the threat of enforcement agencies, to force leaders from other parties into the saffron fold. AAP leaders have accused the departing MPs of having betrayed the party, claiming that they left in search of greener pastures and were guided by opportunism.

The development, however, leaves the AAP to deal with several questions about its own state of affairs and the growing challenge of staying relevant in the national political arena.

“We knew Raghav Chadha’s departure was only a matter of time, and we were prepared for it. We also knew a couple more MPs could leave along with him,” said a senior AAP leader. “It is definitely a setback that seven of our MPs crossed over to the BJP. But we will rise up to this challenge too.”

The centralisation question

The exit of Chadha and Pathak—both of whom were deeply involved with the AAP’s organisational matters and electoral strategy, and were considered close to Kejriwal—is being viewed by political commentators in the light of the growing perception that the party is run in a highly centralised manner, with decision-making resting solely with Kejriwal.

The major takeaway from the development is that the AAP supremo would have to deal with questions about why so many party colleagues who were once believed to be in his inner circle have either parted ways with him or have been shown the door.

Chadha, a chartered accountant, met Kejriwal during the India Against Corruption movement in 2011 and was among the original AAP leaders when the party was formed in 2012. The young leader became the face of the party on national television debates and had a rapid rise in its ranks. He was entrusted with preparing the AAP for the Assembly election in Punjab in 2022 as the in-charge of the party’s affairs in the State. His nomination to the Rajya Sabha that year was seen as a big promotion, and many within the party, especially his detractors, attributed it to his proximity to Kejriwal.

Pathak, a far less recognisable face than Chadha, had an equally important role. A former assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Pathak worked behind the scenes in Punjab, designing the party’s strategy and building its organisation in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly election. The Rajya Sabha nomination that year was seen as an elevation he had earned because of his contribution to the party’s victory in the State. He was also designated the AAP’s National General Secretary (Organisation), which placed him among the top brass of the party.

Of late, Pathak is learnt to have felt sidelined after he was divested of his responsibilities in Punjab and Gujarat. In a March 2025 reshuffle, he was replaced as Punjab in-charge by Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal’s long-time associate and his former deputy in the Delhi government. In Gujarat, he was replaced as the State in-charge by Gopal Rai.

The case of Maliwal, too, is that of an AAP leader who was once close to Kejriwal, turning a bitter opponent. She was appointed chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women and later nominated to the Rajya Sabha. She was conspicuous by her absence when Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, 2024. She later alleged that Bibhav Kumar, Kejriwal’s personal assistant, assaulted her on May 13, 2024, at his then official residence.

“The authoritarianism and insecurity of Arvind Kejriwal is once again on display, as he has repeatedly made a habit of ignoring, humiliating, or discarding his one-time closest allies,” said political commentator Harjeshwar Pal Singh.

Businessmen, nominations, and the Punjab stakes

Also in focus is the AAP leadership’s controversial decision to give Rajya Sabha nominations to businessmen, which had caused much heartburn within the party and had resulted in some leaders, who felt they deserved the nomination more, quitting. Three of the seven departing MPs are industrialists: Mittal, the founder of Lovely Professional University; Sahney, the chairman of Sun Group; and Gupta, the founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Trident Group.

Mittal’s exit was conspicuous for its timing. On April 2, the AAP appointed him as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, replacing Chadha. The Enforcement Directorate raided multiple addresses associated with Lovely Professional University on April 15. Mittal then appeared alongside Chadha and Pathak at the press conference on April 24 to announce their departure from the party. AAP leaders say the ruling dispensation used the threat of enforcement agencies to get the businessmen on board.

Kejriwal had been living with his family at Mittal’s government-allotted bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi following his resignation as Chief Minister in September 2024. He moved into the house allotted to him as the head of a national party just hours before Mittal appeared at the press conference to announce the split.

There was also discontent within the party over its decision to nominate the former cricketer Harbhajan Singh to the Upper House, especially since he was not vocal on issues of importance to the AAP and did not regularly attend Parliament.

“This episode has justified the hue and cry which many of us had made when the AAP sent moneybags and outsiders to the Rajya Sabha,” said Harjeshwar Pal Singh. He added that the development had laid bare what he described as the party’s “ideological ambiguity.”

Damage control and the road ahead

Of primary concern to the AAP would be the impact that the defection of leaders like Chadha and Pathak, with their deep knowledge of the party’s organisational networks, can have on the party in Punjab. According to party insiders, the leadership is now extra-vigilant about the damage the two leaders can potentially inflict. While the BJP may not be able to extract much electoral benefit for itself in Punjab by getting the MPs on its side, it could utilise the deep connections that Chadha and Pathak have in the AAP’s organisation in the State to engineer further splits and get MLAs to leave the party.

The senior AAP leader quoted above said that besides Chadha, none of the other MPs is a leader with a recall value that the BJP can use in its public outreach. He also said the optics of a wholesale defection to the BJP could end up hurting the saffron party, and that the people of Punjab may not appreciate the move. The hope that the development would not sit well with Punjab’s electorate was evident in Kejriwal’s reaction on X: “BJP has betrayed Punjabis once again.”

Also of concern to the AAP is whether the large-scale defection in the Rajya Sabha could have a ripple effect in the Lok Sabha, where all three of its MPs come from Punjab, and in Delhi, where the party has 22 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha.

Holding on to the flock is now a priority for the AAP leadership—as much as dealing with the perception that the party is in decline.

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