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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken away the Rajya Sabha MP of the party, Raghav Chadha, and replaced him with the Punjab MP, Ashok Mittal. The party was also reported to have also advised the Rajya Sabha Secretariat that Chadha should not be given speaking time on the AAP quota, leading to allegations of an internal divide.

Chadha responded by taking a video message and announcing that he was silenced, not defeated, because he brought up issues on behalf of the common man in Parliament. He likened himself to a river that becomes a flood when it is time.

A number of BJP leaders came to the rescue of Chadha. He was lauded for raising the issues of the people by BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who criticized AAP chief leader Arvind Kejriwal over preventing him from speaking. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva described the action as very objectionable, with Kejriwal being accused of being intolerant of dissent within the party of nominating leaders and then sacking them.

AAP leaders, such as Atishi and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, struck back by accusing Chadha of being afraid of the BJP and not following the party line. This has exposed the mounting suspicion of differences between Chadha and the AAP leadership, who seemed until now to be in his close circles.

This emergence shows piling tensions in AAP before some of the greatest political fights.