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  • 10 hours ago
The Aam Aadmi Party has removed Raghav Chadha from the post of deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, replacing him with AAP MP Ashok Mittal. The decision follows Chadha's continued silence on crucial party matters, particularly his absence of response after top AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, were discharged by a lower court in the excise policy CBI case. Notably, Chadha did not meet Kejriwal following the discharge and did not post any message on social media in support of the party leaders. While Chadha had initially defended AAP leaders during the excise policy case investigation, his eventual silence raised questions within the party. AAP sources maintain the move is a leadership change ahead of Punjab assembly elections in 2027, though party insiders suggest this was anticipated given the deteriorating relationship. The removal marks a significant setback for Chadha, who had built a reputation in the Rajya Sabha raising issues concerning the middle class, including gig workers' rights, telecom matters, and airport food costs.

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00:00Amid Raghav Chanda's continued silence on crucial issues related to the Aam Admi Party and its top leaders,
00:06AAP has axed Raghav Chanda from Deputy Leader Post.
00:10Aam Admi Party MP Ashok Mittal is to be named Deputy Leader of Aam Admi Party in the Rajasabha.
00:16Notably, Raghav Chanda had not met Aam Admi Party Chief Aravind Kejriwal after the top AAP leaders
00:22who were discharged from the Excise Policy CBI case.
00:26Raghav Chanda has not even put out a single social media post for the AAP leaders
00:32post the Excise Policy case relief.
00:34Let me take this to my colleague Amit Bharadwaj who is tracking all the details.
00:37Amit, was this a move waiting to happen?
00:40Was Raghav Chanda expecting this?
00:41Any response from him yet?
00:47Absolutely right.
00:48You know, Raghav Chanda must have anticipated this particular move
00:51and possibly this is just the first step towards worsening of relationship between Aam Admi Party
00:58and Raghav Chanda, the Rajasabha MP from AAP, from Punjab.
01:02Now, we need to understand the context.
01:05What has happened is that Excise Policy case was a litmus test for a lot of leaders within the Aam
01:10Admi Party
01:10and over the period of time, initially, Raghav Chanda would also condemn the crackdown
01:16by the, you know, investigative agencies and the allegations that were put against Arvind Kejriwal
01:21and top leaders of Aam Admi Party.
01:22Raghav Chanda would come out to defend his leaders.
01:25But if you go by the eventual trajectory of this particular story,
01:30what happened that one, Arvind Kejriwal, Manishi Sodhi and other top leaders of Aam Admi Party
01:34were discharged by the lower court in the Excise Policy case of the CBI,
01:41Raghav Chanda did not even put out a single tweet,
01:44let alone meeting Arvind Kejriwal or any other top leader of Aam Admi Party
01:50who were discharged in that particular case.
01:52And that was signal enough to give a sense as to how this particular leader of Aam Admi Party,
01:59who also happens to be part of the PAC,
02:02which is the biggest decision-making body of Aam Admi Party,
02:06is not, the relations between the party and him are not going in the right direction.
02:11And the first step towards that has been taken by Aam Admi Party,
02:15a big setback for Raghav Chanda in terms of parliamentarian
02:20because you would realize as well in the past few months
02:24as to how Raghav himself has shaped himself in the Rajasabha,
02:29raising issues in detail that concerns the middle class or upper middle class at large,
02:35be it the geek workers issue, the telecom or the, you know, costly food at airport.
02:41So he was able to do that at length in the Rajasabha
02:44because he was deputy leader of the party in Rajasabha.
02:47Now that he does not has that post,
02:49Ashok Mithal, the Aam Admi Party, Rajasabha MP from Punjab,
02:52has been named the deputy leader of AAP in Rajasabha.
02:56How much time Raghav will get in the house?
02:58That is a big question.
02:59But party says that we have not done it.
03:01The party sources are maintaining that we have not taken this move to curtail Raghav.
03:05Rather, it's just a change in leadership.
03:07And now the assembly elections in Punjab are also to happen in 2027.
03:14So a lot of risk in the leadership will also happen.
03:17But certainly the way things had developed in the past few months,
03:21that this was writing on the wall.
03:23Back to you.
03:24Oh yes, absolutely, Amit.
03:25And while the Aam Admi Party may not admit to it,
03:28but fact does remain that the expectations from Raghav Chadha,
03:32especially with regards to the exercise duty case, were higher.
03:36And like you're saying, it was writing on the wall,
03:39given what had been happening for the past many months.
03:43But the decision that has been taken by the Aam Admi Party on Raghav Chadha,
03:48where they have now decided to axe Raghav Chadha from the post of deputy leader,
03:55and Aam Admi Party MP Ashok Mittal will be named deputy leader of the Aam Admi Party in Rajasabha.
04:01Now whether this will further affect ties of Raghav Chadha and the Aam Admi Party,
04:06or will this even raise questions regarding his existence in the party?
04:10How exactly will he continue are the many, many angles that will soon become the focus.
04:16But for the moment, the Aam Admi Party has finally broken its silence,
04:20and they have decided to axe Raghav Chadha from the post of deputy leader.
04:26This after Raghav Chadha had not met with Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal,
04:31after the top-up leaders were discharged from the excise policy CBI case,
04:35Raghav Chadha had not even made a single social media post or any word on that
04:41after the Aam Admi Party leaders post the excise policy case relief had been out.
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