--- title: "AAP's Major Defection | Model Diplomat" description: "Seven AAP MPs have defected to the BJP, a major blow to Arvind Kejriwal's party that shakes its Rajya Sabha standing and rattles its political ambitions." url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/story/aaps-major-defection-seven-mps-join-bjp-kejriwals-party-shaken" --- # AAP's Major Defection Kejriwal's AAP loses key Rajya Sabha members to BJP in a shock move. Model DiplomatApril 24, 20263 min readIndia [PTITwo-time former AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta joins BJP on MCD bypoll eve - The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/two-time-former-aap-mla-rajesh-gupta-joins-bjp-on-mcd-bypoll-eve/article70338172.ece)[The HinduAAP replaces Raghav Chadha with Ashok Mittal as RS deputy leader - The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/videos/aap-replaces-raghav-chadha-with-ashok-mittal-as-rs-deputy-leader/article70819373.ece)[Soni MishraRaghav Chadha-AAP Rift Explained: Rise to Fallout (2026) - Frontline](https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/raghav-chadha-aap-fallout/article70847076.ece) The picture is now complete. Here's the analysis: *** ## AAP Loses Seven MPs to BJP in a Single Day — Kejriwal's Party Fractures at the Top *On April 24, Raghav Chadha led six AAP Rajya Sabha MPs into the BJP, stripping the party of two-thirds of its upper house bloc in one move.* **Seven.** That's how many Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs — led by **Raghav Chadha** — formally joined the BJP on April 24, 2026. The group includes **Sandeep Pathak**, **Ashok Mittal**, **Harbhajan Singh**, **Rajinder Gupta**, **Vikram Sahney**, and **Swati Maliwal**. Chadha framed it in constitutional terms: two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha contingent exercising their right to merge with another party — the precise threshold needed to avoid anti-defection disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. This is not a sudden collapse. It is the conclusion of a slow-burn unraveling that was visible for months. ## The Anatomy of a Breakup Chadha's arc inside AAP is a textbook case of a political protégé outgrowing — or being squeezed out of — his patron's orbit. He entered the Rajya Sabha in 2022 at 33 as the party's youngest member, having already served as national treasurer at 26, Delhi Jal Board vice chairman, and key strategist for AAP's landslide 2022 Punjab victory. He was, for years, **Arvind Kejriwal**'s most visible face in the upper house. The rupture accelerated in early April 2026, when AAP wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to replace Chadha as Deputy Leader with Mittal — the same Mittal who has now followed Chadha out the door. The party's charge: Chadha ignored Punjab-specific issues in Parliament, refused to sign an impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner, and ran "soft PR" instead of hard opposition. Chadha's rebuttal, backed by a video compilation of his interventions on groundwater decline and Bhagat Singh-related issues, landed poorly with the Punjab leadership. [Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and AAP state president Aman Arora were the loudest critics](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i-go-to-parliament-to-create-impact-not-ruckus-raghav-chadha-rubbishes-aap-allegations/article70822791.ece "thehindu.com"). **Swati Maliwal's** presence in the departing group adds another layer. Her public assault allegation against a Kejriwal aide in 2024 — and the brutal counter-campaign AAP ran against her — made her presence in the party a standing embarrassment. Her exit to BJP closes that wound for AAP while handing the BJP a useful symbol. ## Who Wins, Who Loses **BJP gains** a clean upper house story: seven MPs absorbed without a byelection, including a high-profile face in Chadha and a grievance symbol in Maliwal. The merger strengthens the ruling coalition's Rajya Sabha math at a moment when several legislative priorities are pending. [India's political landscape](https://modeldiplomat.com/discover/india "modeldiplomat.com") has seen BJP absorb opposition talent before — most notably from the Congress — but this represents AAP's most significant parliamentary haemorrhage since its founding. **AAP loses** its two-thirds Rajya Sabha bloc in a single session day and, more damagingly, the narrative that defections only happen *to* the party rather than *from* it. Kejriwal's core brand — clean politics, cadre loyalty, anti-establishment identity — takes structural damage when his own handpicked MP cites parliamentary impact as a reason to sit with the government. The February 2026 discharge of [Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case](https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/excise-corruption-liquor-policy-case-kejriwal-sisodia-discharged/article70682814.ece "thehindu.com") offered a potential reset; this defection undermines it immediately. **Punjab** is the real variable. AAP governs Punjab with a full majority, but the Rajya Sabha bloc that was notionally representing the state is now sitting with the BJP. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's position is unaffected in the short term, but the optics of Punjab's RS MPs switching to Delhi's adversarial centre will be tested in the next state budget cycle. ### What to Watch Next The immediate legal question: whether the Rajya Sabha Chairman accepts the merger claim — **two-thirds threshold** is met on paper, but the precise party strength will be verified. A challenge under the Tenth Schedule, if filed, lands at the Chairman's desk within 30 days. The strategic question: **whether AAP's Punjab government holds**. Mann's assembly numbers are intact, but a central government emboldened by the Rajya Sabha shift has more leverage over state finances. Watch the next Punjab-centre fiscal transfer — and whether Chadha's new BJP affiliation is used to publicly contrast with his prior advocacy on Punjab flood relief. 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