Anna Hazare Says AAP MP Exodus Signals Internal Rift As Raghav Chadha Leads BJP Merger Move

Social activist Anna Hazare on Friday commented on the departure of Raghav Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying the exits suggest internal problems within the party.

Speaking to reporters in Ahilyanagar district, Maharashtra, Hazare said, “Everyone has the right to hold an opinion in a democracy. They must have faced difficulties, which is why they left.”

He added that the responsibility lay with the party leadership. “Had the party followed the right path, they would not have left,” he said.

Hazare repeated that the departures indicated dissatisfaction within the party. “There must be some reason for leaving. In a democracy, every person has the right to decide where to stay and where to go,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, AAP MP Raghav Chadha said that two-thirds of the party’s Rajya Sabha members had decided to merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under constitutional provisions. The move is expected to help them retain their seats in the Upper House.

The announcement came days after AAP removed Chadha as deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha amid allegations that he had failed to raise key issues against the government and had instead engaged in “soft PR”.

At a press conference, Chadha named Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak among those joining the merger. Notably, Mittal had been chosen by AAP to replace Chadha as deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.

AAP has 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. Chadha claimed that more than two-thirds of them had backed the decision, the number required for members to avoid disqualification.

“They have signed, and this morning we submitted the signed letter and documents to the Rajya Sabha Chairman,” Chadha said. He added that Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney and Swati Maliwal were also supporting the move.