'Operation Lotus' strikes Aam Aadmi Party as 7 Rajya Sabha MPs defect to BJP; Raghav Chadha leads charge

New Delhi: ‘Operation Lotus’ struck the AAP on Friday with seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs defecting to the BJP, reducing the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to just three in the Upper House while throwing it into another crisis a year after its electoral debacle in Delhi.

The MPs were Raghav Chadha, newly-appointed Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Ashok Mittal, AAP General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak, Swati Maliwal, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Singh Sahney. Now, only Sanjay Singh, ND Gupta and Sant Balbir Singh remain in AAP in the Upper House while it has three MPs in Lok Sabha.

More than Punjab polls, the 'Operation Lotus', as the exercise was described by Sanjay Singh, is seen as the ruling BJP's attempt to offset the political damage inflicted by the major legislative defeat of the Modi government last week while it failed to muster enough votes for the passage of a Constitution Amendment Bill for delimitation and subsequent increase in women's quota.

The defected MPs claimed that they are not liable for disqualification as they are more than two-third of the AAP Parliamentary party in Rajya Sabha even as a section interpreted the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution to insist that their defection still attract disqualification as the “original party” – AAP – has not merged with BJP. Incidentally, Mittal, who was appointed AAP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha only on April 2 after removing Chadha from the post, left the party, nine days after a raid by the ED at his business entities as part of a FEMA probe.

Sanjay Singh said he will be submitting a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan demanding that Chadha, Mittal and Pathak, who addressed a press conference to announce the development, be disqualified from Rajya Sabha for joining, as this “tantamount to voluntarily relinquishing membership” of their party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

Six of the seven defectors, barring Maliwal who got the ticket from Delhi, were elected from poll-bound Punjab and the AAP called it a "betrayal" of Punjabis. Kejriwal said that the "BJP has once again betrayed Punjabis" while Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called the seven MPs "gaddars (traitors)" and Sanjay Singh warned that Punjabis will "never forgive" them.

With this, BJP's strength rose to 113 in the House, just ten short of majority on its own, while the NDA strength has risen to 148, including seven nominated MPs. Over 30 Rajya Sabha seats are set to go for polls later this year and the BJP is likely to gain an extra five seats, bringing it closer to the two-third mark of 163.

Tension was simmering in the AAP since its Delhi defeat in 2025 February and its MPs were said to be restless, prompting the BJP to make the move.

Chadha's ouster as Deputy Leader accelerated 'Operation Lotus' and six more MPs, including Maliwal who has been a lone ranger for sometime after her falling out with Kejriwal, were roped in so that disqualification proceedings will not be initiated.

It has also led to speculation about the stability of the Mann-led AAP government in Punjab with less than a year left for Assembly elections, amid BJP trying to find a foot-hold in the Sikh dominated border state. Punjab Congress leaders said AAP MLAs in the state will also defect, with state party chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring claiming that 50 of the 92 AAP MLAs may also defect.

"AAP, that I nurtured with my blood and sweat and to which I gave 15 years of my youth, has completely strayed from its principles, values and core morals...In Rajya Sabha, the AAP has 10 MPs. More than two-thirds of them are with us in this initiative. They have already signed, and this morning we submitted all the required documentation, including signed letters and other formal paperwork, to the Chairman," Chadha said.

Hitting out at AAP, Chadha said the party is no longer working for the country but for its own benefit. "Over the past few years, I have increasingly felt that I am the right person in the wrong party. Today, I announce my decision to move away from AAP and work more closely with the 'janata' (public)," he said.

Pathak said that he had never thought that this situation would arise but it has and "for 10 years, I remained associated with this party. Today, I am parting ways with the AAP".