Raghav Chadha vs AAP: ‘Jo darr gaya, samjho marr gaya,’ Saurabh Bharadwaj responds to MP's video message, 'soft PR'

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday, 3 April, accused its Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Raghav Chadha, of choosing ‘less significant’ issues in Parliament over real matters and not questioning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP leader and Delhi unit chief, in a video message, also accused Chadha of indulging in ‘soft PR’ in Parliament.

“I just saw your video Raghav bhai. We are all Arvind Kejriwal's soldiers. The only thing we learnt is jo darr gaya so marr gaya (cowards are as good as dead). All of us were supposed to raise issues against the government. We saw recently people who speak against the government have been silenced. The government doesn't care about anyone's soft PR,” Bharadwaj, a former minister in Delhi said in the video.

This comes hours after Raghav Chadha, on Friday, 3 April, slammed AAP for allegedly stopping him from speaking in Parliament. The video statement by Chadha came a day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced that it has written to the Rajya Sabha secretariat seeking the removal of Raghav Chadha as its deputy leader in the Upper House.

“Whenever I get a chance to speak in Parliament, I speak on public-centered issues. I raise issues that are usually not taken up in the Parliament. Is speaking on public issues a mistake? Have I done something wrong?” Chadha asked in the message shared on his social media.

‘Serious issues than samosas in Parliament’

A small party like AAP has limited time in Parliament, Bharadwaj responded. “It is better to take up more serious issues than samosas in Parliament. We saw issues about voter list fraud. The opposition wanted to impeach CEC, but you refused to sign the motion. Whenever opposition walks out of Parliament, you do not follow. You have not questioned the government recently. How do you continue the politics of fear,” Bharadwaj said.

Chadha had alleged that AAP had asked the Rajya Sabha secretariat to stop him from speaking in the House. The party has denied the allegation, saying replacing a leader of the Upper House was not unusual.

Chadha, who has been a Rajya Sabha MP since 2022, has been replaced by Ashok Mittal, another party MP from Punjab and the founder and chancellor of Lovely Professional University.

Chadha has remained an active parliamentary voice, frequently raising social and economic issues.

Last month, the AAP MP highlighted concerns about the practice of “sarpanch pati” or “panchayat pati”, in which women elected to reserved seats are often reduced to figureheads while male relatives exercise authority. He called for stricter enforcement of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment to ensure genuine empowerment.

Bharadwaj also said in his response that Chadha refused to speak when Arvind Kejriwal was arrested. “I believe we need to raise real issues in Parliament. We do not care about your soft issues. In fact BJP has been supporting you on Social Media since yesterday. You should think about it,” he said.

Once a close confidante of Arvind Kejriwal, Chadha has not reportedly been on good terms with the AAP leadership of late. Some reports suggested he was on the way to joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, though there has not been any official word on this.