New Delhi: Within minutes of Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, and four other AAP MPs announcing their exit from the party, AAP leader Sanjay Singh came out swinging.
“Punjab will never forget these traitors who stabbed the people in the back,” Singh said, naming all seven rebels including Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal who are set to merge with the BJP.
Singh squarely blamed the BJP’s top leadership, accusing the party of running “Operation Lotus under the leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi” to break the AAP ahead of the Punjab elections, slated for next year.
AAP national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also reacted sharply: “The BJP has once again given Punjabis a shove.”
#WATCH | Delhi | AAP MP Sanjay Singh says, "…The BJP has done the work of obstructing the good works done by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government…7 AAP Rajya Sabha MPs are joining the BJP, the people of Punjab should remember these 7 names. The people of Punjab will… pic.twitter.com/7lZcW70dBX
— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2026
Singh didn’t stop there. He alleged that central agencies were being weaponised to engineer the defections. “ED, CBI is being used to execute this Operation Lotus. Just days back, Ashok Mittal’s premises were raided. This means fear is being used,” he said.
Also Read:Raghav Chadha Quits AAP, Two-Thirds of Party’s Rajya Sabha MPs to Merge with BJP
He also took aim at the rebels’ credibility: “Those who passed the three farm laws against the farmers of Punjab by joining that party, will you fight for honesty and truth? Raghav Chadha had said he joined us in the fight against corruption, but today the leadership of that party is accused of corruption worth lakhs of crores, from electoral bonds to other issues.”
VIDEO | Delhi: At a press conference, Sanjay Singh, MP of the Aam Aadmi Party, says, “Today, seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The people of Punjab should remember these seven names. They will never forgive those who have betrayed them. The party… pic.twitter.com/Q0sZgWgufj
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 24, 2026
Singh called it a “cheap game of politics,” alleging the BJP had consistently blocked CM Bhagwant Mann’s development work in Punjab. “The people of Punjab should remember these 7 names. The people of Punjab will never forget them,” he repeated.
For his part, Chadha framed the walkout differently. “The real reason why I distanced myself from party activities is that I did not want to be a part of their crimes. I was not eligible for their friendship because I was not a part of their crime,” he said at the press conference. “We had just two options — quit politics and give up our work in the last 15-16 years, or do positive politics with our energy and experience. We have decided that we, 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP.”
The split comes at a sensitive moment for AAP, with Punjab heading to polls next year and the party now short of a significant chunk of its Rajya Sabha strength.
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