New Delhi: Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Virendra Sachdeva said on Thursday that though it is the prerogative of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership to appoint its Parliamentary group leaders, the replacement of MP Raghav Chadha as Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha reflects Arvind Kejriwal’s anarchy.
Sachdeva said that Chadha has not only been replaced as the Deputy Leader of the Upper House but the AAP has even urged the Raya Sabha Secretariat not to allow him time to speak in the House.
It is clear that Chadha is paying a price for having distanced himself from the anarchic and corrupt leadership of AAP Convenor Kejriwal, the Delhi BJP President added.
He said that first it was AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal and now her party member and MP Raghav Chadha who are, apparently, facing ill-treatment by “weak” Kejriwal, who has no guts to face political opposition whether from within the party or rival parties.
Pointing to the contribution of AAP founding members ill-treated by Kejriwal, Sachdeva said Maliwal and Chadha were the foundation of the AAP but both have now moved away from Kejriwal and the day-to-day working of the party.
Hitting out at AAP Convenor Kejriwal for his allegedly anarchist and corrupt behaviour, the Delhi BJP President added that it would have been better had Kejriwal shown moral authority to expel both Rajya Sabha MPs Maliwal and Chadha from the party.
Nearly a year ago, Maliwal had rebelled against the AAP supremo following an acrimonious fight with the party leadership and allegedly being pressured to give up her Rajya Sabha seat.
For now, Maliwal remains an AAP MP in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier on Thursday, the AAP named its lawmaker from Punjab, Ashok Mittal, as the party’s new Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha.
The Kejriwal-led AAP is understood to have written to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, urging it not to allot time to Raghav Chadha, the incumbent Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha.
In the past few months, Chadha has been vociferous in raising issues of public interest and those pertaining to their sufferings.
Apart from highlighting the plight of gig workers, Chadha has also been a prominent voice of pro-consumer issues related to telecom companies’ internet data plans.
At present, Sanjay Singh is the AAP’s leader in the Rajya Sabha and also the Chairperson of the AAP Parliamentary Party.
At present, the AAP has 10 members in the Upper House, with broad representation from Punjab — the only state where it is in power.
Out of 10 MPs, seven are from Punjab, namely — Raghav Chadha, Rajinder Gupta, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Harbhajan Singh and Sant Balbir Singh.
The AAP lawmakers from Delhi in the Upper House are Swati Maliwal, Narain Dass Gupta, and Sanjay Singh.
(IANS)
