Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha criticized his former party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), for allegedly misusing Punjab’s state resources to target MPs who have recently defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). During a meeting on Tuesday with President Droupadi Murmu, Chadha accused the AAP-led Punjab government of engaging in “vendetta politics” against dissenting leaders.
“After merging with the Bharatiya Janata Party, leaving the Aam Aadmi Party, the Punjab government and the Aam Aadmi Party—driven by a spirit of revenge—have allegedly engaged in vendetta politics,” Chadha stated. He claimed that the state machinery of Punjab has been utilized to target those MPs who exercised their constitutional rights by expressing dissent and leaving the AAP. The delegation presented these concerns directly to the President of India.
Chadha further alleged that there has been selective targeting through various agencies, saying, “Those who themselves go to Rajghat and invoke satyagraha at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial are using Punjab’s machinery to target us through vigilance inquiries, the Delhi Police, and even the Pollution Board. It is important for the public, especially the people of Punjab, to be aware of these developments.”
Sandeep Pathak, another Rajya Sabha member and an AAP rebel, noted that the delegation urged for constitutional protections during their meeting with the President. “We informed the President of the current situation, and she assured us protection under the Constitution,” Pathak remarked.
Simultaneously, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accompanied by AAP MLAs, was en route to Delhi to meet the President concerning the defection of seven Rajya Sabha MPs to the BJP, indicating an impending political confrontation between the two factions.
