--- title: "BJP Secures Seven AAP MPs for Punjab 2027 | Model Diplomat" description: "The BJP's strategic capture of seven AAP MPs reshapes Punjab's political landscape, signaling a major realignment ahead of the high-stakes 2027 state elections." url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/story/bjp-gains-seven-aap-mps-ahead-of-punjab-2027-elections" --- # BJP Secures Seven AAP MPs for Punjab 2027 Raghav Chadha leads a significant defection to BJP. Model DiplomatApril 25, 20263 min readPunjab [Devesh K. PandeyRaghav Chadha and 6 AAP Rajya Sabha MPs join BJP ... - The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raghav-chadha-aap-mps-join-bjp/article70901275.ece)[The HinduWatch: Raghav Chadha, six AAP MPs join BJP | Above the Fold](https://www.thehindu.com/videos/watch-raghav-chadha-six-aap-mps-join-bjp-above-the-fold-24042026/article70903218.ece)[Soni MishraRaghav Chadha-AAP Rift Explained: Rise to Fallout (2026) - Frontline](https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/raghav-chadha-aap-fallout/article70847076.ece) ## BJP Lands Seven AAP MPs — and Punjab 2027 Is the Real Prize *Raghav Chadha leads a seven-MP defection from AAP to BJP, reshuffling Rajya Sabha arithmetic and opening a new front ahead of Punjab's 2027 assembly election.* **Seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs — led by Raghav Chadha and including Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Kumar Mittal — resigned from the party on April 24 and joined the BJP**, meeting party president Nitin Nabin at BJP headquarters. For AAP, it is the largest single-day defection in the party's history. For BJP, it is a surgical strike at the opposition's upper-house numbers precisely when the NDA bloc already holds 141 Rajya Sabha seats and is pressing for a working majority. AAP has predictably labeled it **"Operation Lotus"** — its shorthand for BJP-engineered poaching. That framing is politically convenient but incomplete. Chadha's exit had been telegraphed for months: Punjab CM **Bhagwant Mann** publicly called him "compromised" after he was stripped of the deputy leader post in the Rajya Sabha for failing to raise Punjab-specific issues. **Chadha had been isolated inside his own party well before BJP came calling.** ## The Rajya Sabha Math — and Why It Matters Now The defections directly strengthen NDA's position in the upper house at a moment when the government is pushing legislative priorities that have faced opposition delays. Seven additional votes won't hand BJP a standalone majority, but combined with smaller NDA allies, the arithmetic tightens meaningfully for key bills. More importantly, it **denies AAP its recognized group status** in the Rajya Sabha, stripping the party of speaking time, committee seats, and institutional visibility at the national level — a slow bleed for a party already under pressure from ED raids targeting figures like Mittal himself. ## Punjab 2027: The Longer Game The Rajya Sabha angle is real but secondary. **The primary target is Punjab's 2027 assembly election**, where AAP currently governs with a 92-seat majority. BJP has zero seats in the Punjab assembly and no credible local face. Chadha — young, telegenic, fluent in Punjabi politics — gives BJP exactly what it lacks: a recognizable figure with roots in the state's 2022 electoral surge. That context explains why Union Minister **Ravneet Bittu's** earlier "catwalk" jibes at Chadha are now circulating as evidence of political embarrassment — Bittu was mocking someone who is now a party colleague, and in Punjab's sharp political culture, that inconsistency lands hard. BJP's Punjab playbook is becoming clearer: pair **ED pressure on AAP-linked figures** (raids on Mittal's business premises were conducted under FEMA in the weeks before his defection) with high-profile recruitment to build a credible alternative government narrative. AAP's counter — that defectors are coerced — may resonate with its base but does little to arrest the perception of a party fracturing under legal and political pressure. For deeper context on the structural dynamics reshaping [Indian politics](https://modeldiplomat.com/discover/india "modeldiplomat.com") ahead of multiple state cycles, the pattern here echoes BJP's successful deconstruction of regional parties in Maharashtra and Bengal. ### What to Watch Next Three signals matter between now and Punjab's election window: 1. **Anti-defection proceedings** — whether the Election Commission moves against the seven MPs, and on what timeline. 2. **Chadha's first public appearance in Punjab** — how he is received will test whether the defection has genuine grassroots traction or remains a Delhi-level maneuver. 3. **AAP's legislative response in Punjab** — Bhagwant Mann's government will likely accelerate welfare announcements to insulate its base from the national narrative of a party in freefall. The next hard deadline is the **Punjab state budget session**, where AAP's assembly majority still gives it firm ground — for now. *** *Sources: [The Hindu — Chadha, six AAP MPs join BJP](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raghav-chadha-aap-mps-join-bjp/article70901275.ece "thehindu.com") | [Frontline — Chadha-AAP rift explained](https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/raghav-chadha-aap-fallout/article70847076.ece "frontline.thehindu.com") | [Hindustan Times](https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/after-raghav-chadhas-bjp-entry-minister-bittus-recent-jibes-viral-what-aap-mps-switch-means-for-bjp-in-punjab-2027-101777115389412.html "hindustantimes.com")* [BJP](https://modeldiplomat.com/tag/bjp)[AAP](https://modeldiplomat.com/tag/aap)[Punjab Elections](https://modeldiplomat.com/tag/punjab-elections)[Raghav Chadha](https://modeldiplomat.com/tag/raghav-chadha)[Rajya Sabha](https://modeldiplomat.com/tag/rajya-sabha)[Political Defection](https://modeldiplomat.com/tag/political-defection) Discover more [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/bjp-and-congress-clash-over-madhya-pradesh-bill-defeat) #### [BJP Congress Clash Over MP Bill Defeat](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/bjp-and-congress-clash-over-madhya-pradesh-bill-defeat) [The BJP's defeat of the women's quota amendment sparks a political narrative war with Congress, impacting future elections.](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/bjp-and-congress-clash-over-madhya-pradesh-bill-defeat) [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/bjps-delimitation-strategy-women-as-political-shields) #### [BJP's Delimitation Strategy](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/bjps-delimitation-strategy-women-as-political-shields) [Congress leader K.C. 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