New Delhi: A day after the Aam Aadmi Party removed Raghav Chadha as its Rajya Sabha deputy leader, the MP released a video claiming he was ousted for “speaking for the people”, drawing sharp retorts from party leaders who said he is “scared” of the BJP.
Chadha took his first public stand against his party Friday, releasing a video, titled ‘Silenced, Not Defeated’. Addressing his supporters directly, he asked what he had done to invite such action against him.
“I raise issues that are not usually discussed in Parliament, I speak about the concerns of the people. But is raising public issues, is speaking for the people, a crime? Have I done something wrong?” the MP, once considered close to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, said.
Responding to the video message, AAP Delhi in-charge Saurabh Bharadwaj issued a video statement on X with caption “jo darr gaya, wo mar gaya (whoever gets scared is as good as dead)”.
He claimed the BJP government goes after those asking questions, but it doesn’t bother those who do “Soft PR” in parliament. Bharadwaj then slammed Chadha over his “silence” on key issues like Special Intensive Revision of electoral roll and ‘Vote Chori’.
He further alleged that Chadha neither joins Opposition walkouts nor raises questions against the BJP government, and has also failed to take up issues concerning Punjab, the state he represents in Rajya Sabha.
On Thursday, the AAP wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, nominating Ashok Mittal, the party’s MP from Punjab, as its new Deputy Leader of the House in place of Chadha.
Silenced, not defeated
My message to the ‘aam aadmi’
—
खामोश करवाया गया हूँ, हारा नहीं हूँ
'आम आदमी’ को मेरे संदेश pic.twitter.com/poUwxsu0S3
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) April 3, 2026
In his video, Chadha said he could not understand why he was being “silenced” for raising exactly the kind of issues the party was founded to champion.
“The Aam Aadmi Party has told the Rajya Sabha Secretariat that I should not be allowed to speak in Parliament. But why would anyone want to silence me? I speak for the ‘aam aadmi’. I raised issues of delivery workers, expensive food at airports, toll plaza ‘loot’ amongst others. The common man benefited when I spoke on these issues, so what was the party losing from it,” he asked.
Appealing to his supporters to continue backing him, he said, “Mai aapse aur aapke liye hoon–mera haath aur saath mat choriyega . I am because of you and for you—please don’t abandon me.”
He also asked the party not to misread his “restraint”. “Don’t mistake my silence for defeat, I am like a river that turns into a flood when the time comes.”
On his X account, he posted a compilation of his parliamentary speeches accompanied by an evil eye emoticon.
Other AAP leaders, including former Delhi chief minister Atishi, also reacted to his videos.
“Raghav ji, why are you so scared of the BJP?” she asked in a video message posted X. “Did you, even for once, ask a question on the attack on democracy in West Bengal?”
She said AAP leaders raised the issue of LPG shortage, but when he was asked to speak about it, he chose to remain silent. “When Arvind Kejriwal ji was arrested and we were all fighting against it on the roads, and police were lathicharging us…you were in London. You told us you were getting an eye surgery done.
“But today Raghav ji, a question comes to my mind—did you escape to London because you got scared of the BJP then too,” she asked. “Today, you have to decide, whether you are with Modi ji or with the Constitution.”
राघव चढ्ढा जी से मेरे कुछ सवाल . pic.twitter.com/NNMyXYXijs
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) April 3, 2026
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he believes Chadha is “compromised”.
If Chadha is unwilling to speak on issues like the “deletion” of votes in West Bengal, stage a walkout from Parliament on important issues or raise a voice against the arrest of several AAP volunteers and leaders in Gujarat, he is going against the party whip.
The demotion
Chadha’s demotion comes amid persistent speculation of a falling-out between him and Kejriwal. Chadha has been notably absent from several key AAP public events and did not participate in the party’s street protests when senior leaders—including Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain—were jailed on corruption allegations. He also stayed away from celebrations held after they were granted bail.
Chadha, who has been associated with AAP since its inception, rose quickly through its ranks: appointed national treasurer at 26, he went on to win the 2020 Delhi Assembly election before entering the Rajya Sabha as an AAP nominee. He was widely regarded as Kejriwal’s blue-eyed boy, the youngest MP in the party’s parliamentary group, and one of its most visible spokespersons.
His replacement, Mittal, downplayed the reshuffle, describing it as a routine democratic exercise and asserting that all was well within the party. “Before Raghav, it was N.D Gupta as the deputy leader. Our party is democratic and this is a routine change,” he said.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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