The Aam Aadmi Party hasn’t expelled the Punjab MP, but a formal letter to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat guarantees he won’t speak for them again. 

Raghav Chadha hasn’t lost his Rajya Sabha seat, but his own party just ensured he won’t be speaking from it anytime soon.  

The Aam Aadmi Party officially removed Chadha as its deputy leader in the upper house on Thursday. They replaced him with fellow Punjab MP Ashok Mittal. But the leadership didn’t stop at a simple title swap. In a formal letter to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, AAP requested that Chadha receive zero speaking time from the party’s allocated parliamentary quota, according to sources quoted by the Press Trust of India. The move effectively gags one of the party’s most recognizable national voices.  

Chadha fired back Friday morning. He skipped the party letterhead and went straight to social media platform X. He posted a video compilation of his recent parliamentary speeches covering gig worker rights, flight ticket prices, and middle-class tax burdens.  

“Silenced, not defeated,” Chadha wrote.

In the video message, he framed the demotion as a punishment for doing his job. He detailed the specific consumer issues he brings to the floor and dared the leadership to explain their rationale.  

“Whenever I get a chance to speak in Parliament, I raise issues related to the people,” Chadha said. “I bring up topics that are generally not discussed. Is speaking on public issues a crime? Have I committed any mistake or done anything wrong?”

He explicitly alleged the party contacted the Secretariat to block him, asking his followers why anyone should stop an elected member from speaking in Parliament.  

The public break didn’t happen overnight. It’s the culmination of a widening rift between Chadha and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.  

Why cut the mic of your most articulate defender?

The fracture traces back to March 2024. When federal agencies arrested Kejriwal in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, AAP leaders flooded the streets. Chadha was nowhere near the barricades. He remained in the United Kingdom, citing recovery from an eye surgery. His prolonged absence during the party’s existential crisis quietly infuriated the top brass.  

And the distance only grew. Last month, a Delhi court acquitted Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in that same liquor case. The party launched massive celebrations. Chadha stayed silent. He issued no statements praising the verdict. He skipped Kejriwal’s victory press conference entirely. He didn’t show up at the subsequent rally at Jantar Mantar.  

Now, the bill for that silence has come due.

Mittal stepped in front of cameras Thursday to downplay the reshuffle. He called the leadership change a routine process and insisted there were no specific reasons behind it. He pointed out that N.D. Gupta previously held the deputy leader role before Chadha took over, framing his own appointment as simply the next turn in the rotation.  

When pressed on swirling rumors that Chadha might cross the aisle to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mittal claimed he had no knowledge of any such plans. He also claimed his predecessor would still be given time to speak in the house, a statement directly contradicting the letter AAP leadership sent to the Secretariat.  

Political rivals immediately capitalized on the blood in the water. Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva issued a swift statement Friday, framing the demotion as proof of Kejriwal’s autocratic grip on the party. Sachdeva argued Chadha is simply paying the price for distancing himself from a corrupt leadership structure.  

So what happens next?

Chadha’s term representing Punjab runs until 2028. A corporate “kingpin” didn’t force him out. His own high command benched him. He remains an elected member of the Rajya Sabha, but he’s totally isolated from the party apparatus he helped build. Mittal told reporters the party will decide Chadha’s role in the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls at a later date.  

But Thursday’s letter sends a definitive message from the AAP leadership. You can keep the seat. Just don’t speak for us.