A new political controversy has emerged within the Aam Aadmi Party. Many party leaders have openly expressed their displeasure over Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha. It is being alleged that he did not strongly raise important issues of the party in Parliament and many times adopted a stand different from the party line. Amidst this controversy, Aam Aadmi Party has also decided to remove him from the post of Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha. In his place, Punjab MP and industrialist Ashok Kumar Mittal has been made the new deputy leader. After this decision, the ongoing tussle within the party has come to the fore.
Party's national media in-charge Malvinder Singh Kang Dhanda (Dhanda) launched a scathing attack on Raghav Chadha. He alleged that Chadha has been avoiding speaking against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for some time. Dhanda said that the party gets very limited time to speak in Parliament. At such a time, there is a need to raise big issues related to the country, but Chadha gave priority to raising issues like the price of samosas at airports. He said that even when the proposal was brought against the Chief Election Commissioner, Raghav Chadha did not sign it.
AAP leaders allege that even when party workers were arrested in Gujarat, Raghav Chadha did not raise his voice on the issue in Parliament. Dhanda said that Aam Aadmi Party considers itself a soldier of Arvind Kejriwal's ideology and raising issues fearlessly is its identity. In such a situation, if a leader remains silent on major political issues, then it is natural for questions to arise within the party.
Delhi government minister and party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj also raised questions on the working style of Raghav Chadha. He said that instead of raising important political issues in the Rajya Sabha, Chadha was focusing more on “soft PR”.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that it is necessary to follow the party line in Parliament. If any MP deviates from the party's strategy, action can be taken against him. Mann also alleged that Chadha did not raise important issues related to Punjab strongly in Parliament.
Amidst these controversies, Aam Aadmi Party wrote a letter to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat informing that Raghav Chadha is being removed from the post of Deputy Leader. The party has appointed Punjab MP Ashok Kumar Mittal as the new deputy leader. Mittal has also been an industrialist and has been playing an active role in Parliament for some time.
Amidst the controversy, Raghav Chaddha also reacted on social media platform X. He said that his silence in Parliament should not be considered as defeat. Chadha wrote that whenever he gets a chance to speak in Parliament, he raises issues related to common people. He says that it is not wrong to raise questions on issues related to the public. He also said that he has raised issues like problems of delivery workers, food adulteration, toll tax, bank charges and policies of telecom companies in Parliament.
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Raghav Chadha said in his statement that his right to speak in Parliament has been limited many times, but this does not mean that he has accepted defeat. He said, "Don't consider my silence as my defeat. I am a river that becomes a flood when the time comes."
This ongoing controversy within AAP has started a new discussion in political circles. Different opinions are emerging within the party regarding leadership and strategy. Now it will be interesting to see in which direction this controversy goes in the coming days and what effect it has within the party.
