BJP Swallows Seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs — Punjab Is the Real Prize
Seven AAP MPs defect to BJP in the Rajya Sabha as Gujarat local polls loom — a coordinated squeeze on AAP's two remaining power bases.
Seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs have quit the party and are merging with the BJP as a separate parliamentary faction — a defection that simultaneously guts AAP's national legislative presence and plants BJP's flag in Punjab, a state AAP won in a landslide just four years ago. The move, which AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal called a BJP-engineered betrayal of Punjabis, is not an isolated political accident. It is a coordinated pincer across two fronts.
The Defection Architecture
The parliamentary break follows months of internal fracturing. Raghav Chadha — once AAP's most prominent Rajya Sabha face and the architect of its 2022 Punjab campaign — was stripped of his Deputy Leader position earlier this year after a public rift with party leadership. 
Frontline reports he is now the vehicle through which the BJP is channelling the split, with AAP alleging Chadha is actively facilitating the faction. AAP has written to the Rajya Sabha chairman demanding disqualification of all seven under the anti-defection law, arguing the law recognises no faction or split at the parliamentary level, 
according to The Hindu.
The BJP's calculus is transparent: Punjab assembly elections are roughly ten months away. Former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar stated publicly that the defections will boost BJP's negotiating leverage with the Akali Dal for a pre-election alliance and could fracture the vote enough to end AAP's majority, per The Hindu. BJP has historically struggled in Punjab — it holds minimal seats and is associated there with farm law bitterness. Absorbing AAP's parliamentary cadre gives it both optics and networks it simply does not organically possess.
Gujarat: The Quieter Front
In Gujarat, the pressure is softer but structurally similar. Ahead of April 26 local body polls — covering 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, and 260 taluka panchayats — a former AAP leader, Raju Karpada, and ex-IPS officer M.L. Ninama joined the BJP in a publicly staged induction, reported by The Hindu. AAP had captured roughly 14% in Gujarat's 2021 local polls, enough to complicate Congress's ability to consolidate opposition votes. By absorbing AAP's local leadership ahead of the April 28 results, BJP is trying to foreclose that space entirely. Gujarat's 2027 assembly race is the real target.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate raided the business entities of AAP MP Ashok Mittal in Punjab, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann denouncing the action as politically timed — a charge the BJP flatly rejected.
What to Watch
Three decision points now matter. First, the Rajya Sabha chairman's ruling on disqualification — if the seven MPs keep their seats under a merger provision, BJP gains legislative numbers and AAP loses credibility on anti-defection. Second, Gujarat local poll results on April 28 will show whether BJP has successfully absorbed AAP's urban support base or merely stripped its leadership. Third, watch for Akali Dal alliance talks in Punjab — if Badal's party comes to the table, AAP faces a unified opposition for the first time since 2022.
Kejriwal's discharge in the CBI excise case buys him moral authority. It does not buy him MPs. Follow the 
India politics tracker for developments ahead of the Punjab poll calendar.
