Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha. File Image | Photo credit: The Hindu
The spat between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and party MP Raghav Chadha continued on Saturday (April 4, 2026), with the latter dismissing the allegations leveled against him by the party as “false” and part of a “coordinated campaign”.
AAP said that Mr. Chadha failed to raise even a single crucial issue of Punjab in Parliament. On Thursday, AAP removed Mr. Chadha as deputy leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha. Since then, they have been engaged in a war of words.
The accusations are a lie: Chadha
In a video posted on social media platform X on Saturday, Mr. Chadha termed AAP’s claim that he did not join opposition walkouts in Parliament as a “blatant lie” and called on the party to prove the allegations. He described the attack against him as a “scripted and coordinated campaign”.
Mr Chadha said another allegation that he had refused to sign the impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner was also a “lie”. “Another blatant lie. No Aam Aadmi Party leader has asked me to sign this motion either formally or informally,” he said.
“I did not go to Parliament to create noise, shout, break the microphone or insult. I went there to raise public issues,” Mr Chadha said, adding that he went to create an impression and not a ruckus.
He said he had raised a number of public issues in Parliament. “I have talked about everything from GST to income tax, I have raised the issue of water in Punjab to air in Delhi, from the state of our government schools to how to strengthen public health institutions… You can look at my record in Parliament so far,” he said.
“He did not raise any issues with Punjab”
In response, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “Raghav Chadha was elected to the Rajya Sabha by Punjab MLAs with the expectation that he would strongly represent the state’s interests at the national level. But he has completely avoided raising even a single sensitive issue related to Punjab.”
Mr. Cheema said that despite the Prime Minister’s announcement of ₹ 1,600 crore for relief to Punjab after the devastating floods last year, not even a fraction of this amount has reached the Punjab exchequer. “All these issues have been brought to the notice of Raghav Chadha repeatedly, yet he has not raised any of them in Parliament,” he said.
AAP Punjab president Aman Arora said Mr Chadha must remember the role played by party chief Arvind Kejriwal and the party in his political rise. “Instead of focusing on pressing issues of Punjab like RDF backlog and flood relief, he chose to highlight unrelated issues that the entire country has noticed,” he said.
Published – 04 Apr 2026 15:15 IST
