Seven out of ten Rajya Sabha members, including Raghav Chadha, have defected from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marking the first major desertion of lawmakers from the party.
The defection is the latest in a series of setbacks for the AAP, which was founded in 2013 to "uproot corruption from public life". Kejriwal's image as a frugal politician has also taken a beating over allegations of splurge at his official residence when he was the Delhi chief minister.
The BJP has called the residence a "Sheesh Mahal" or a luxurious palace of mirrors, and stormed to power in the national capital.
Kejriwal's insistence on staying in a bungalow in the upscale Lutyens' Delhi after losing the Delhi polls has vindicated his opponents, who maintain that his pledges to end VIP culture lacked sincerity.
The defection of the AAP Rajya Sabha members, mostly from Punjab, the only state where the party is in power, has dealt a major blow to the party's prospects in the upcoming Punjab polls.
The AAP provided an alternative to the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, winning 20 seats in the 117-member assembly in 2017 and becoming the main Opposition party.
However, trouble began when central agencies started probing alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board when Chadda was its vice chairman.
Kejriwal had anticipated Chadha joining the BJP before the Punjab polls, but what he had not anticipated was that Ashok Mittal, the founder chancellor of Lovely University and Rajya Sabha member, would quit.
The defection of the AAP leaders has set a narrative that Kejriwal cannot keep his flock together, and the bigger challenge for him is to keep his assembly members together in Punjab ahead of the polls due in February 2027.
