Arvind Kejriwal reacts as Raghav Chadha leads major AAP split to join BJP
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Apr 24, 2026 06:58 PM IST
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday shared a cryptic post after Raghav Chadha announced that he, along with other party MPs, would merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Taking to X, the AAP leader said, “The BJP has once again given Punjabis a shove.”
This comes shortly after the AAP MP, at a press conference, said two-thirds of the AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha will merge with the BJP and “exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India”.
“We have decided that we, the two-third members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP,” he said.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann held a press conference shortly after Chadha’s statement, saying that the BJP is a party of “useless leaders.” He said the BJP betrayed the people of Punjab, accusing the party of attempting to break AAP.
“For four years, they tried to find something against Bhagwant Mann; when they couldn’t, they tried to break AAP,” the Punjab CM said.
Mann further said, “They are trying to topple the Punjab government, but the people of Punjab support me; they love me wholeheartedly. The BJP finishes every party they ally with.”
Speaking on Raghav Chadha, Mann said the MPs who are leaving AAP are “gaddaars” (traitors). He further said that the people who have left “do not comprise Punjab.”
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Mann said, “Punjabis are with AAP. People are calling me to say they stand with me and the party, these seven were not the party. The party is much bigger and stronger after the departure of these ‘gaddars’.”
Attacking the BJP further, Mann said that the BJP is using central agencies like ED, CBI and NIA to do their bidding. He also accused the BJP of betraying the people of Punjab by trying to break the government.
“Punjabis hate those who betray them,” he said. He further added that the people of Punjab taught a lesson to Sukhpal Khaira, Master Baldev Singh, Kanwar Sandhu and Jagdev Kamalu when they “tried to break” the state.
