'We quit party not out of fear but disgust': Raghav Chadha as AAP fumes over 'unconstitutional' defection

New Delhi: AAP and defector MPs on Saturday locked horns over the latter's decision to leave the party with Raghav Chadha alleging that they quit not out of fear but due to "growing sense of disappointment, disengagement and disgust" with the party even as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sought an appointment with the President to seek their recall from Rajya Sabha.

AAP Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh said he will soon be writing to Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan seeking disqualification of Chadha and six others, who joined the BJP on Friday leaving just three MPs with the party.

Party workers held protests outside the residences of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta, in Punjab. Some of them also wrote 'Gaddar' (traitor) on the walls of the houses in Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

Chadha said they have joined the BJP not out of fear but because there is "no space left to work in AAP" and "every true patriot who had nurtured the AAP with their blood and sweat with great hope has either already left the party or is in the process of leaving it".

He referred to BJP's fresh allegations on "Sheesh Mahal Part Two" against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in which it is alleged that a large amount of money is spent on the newly allotted bungalow in Lodhi Estate even as AAP rejected the claims saying the photos shown were fake.

Chadha said the 'Sheesh Mahal' row related to the official residence of Kejriwal when he was the Chief Minister was one of the main reasons for AAP's defeat in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections. He also claimed the MPs left AAP together because they believe it has gone into "corrupt and compromised hands".

Separately, cricketer-turned-MP Harbhajan Singh, who also left AAP, claimed that AAP leadership had asked him not to visit Ram temple in Ayodhya, which he cannot accept. Incidentally, Kejriwal himself had visited the Ram temple.

Another defected MP Swati Maliwal claimed that AAP had "strayed far" from its original principles and Kejriwal is no longer the same. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "decisive and strong leadership" she said AAP has completely changed and is now known for "lies, corruption and hooliganism."

"The real betrayal is not leaving the party, but not standing by your own principles. People are not leaving out of fear; they are leaving because of Kejriwal...No good person can work with him for long. He says one thing and does another," she said.

Mann said in Chandigarh that he will be writing to President Droupadi Murmu seeking an appointment to demand the “recall” of the defected MPs. He said he is seeking permission to take Punjab MLAs with him for the meeting.