In a post on X, Chadha said, “Whenever I get a chance to speak in Parliament, I raise public issues… But is raising public issues a crime? Have I committed a crime?” he said, adding that his silence in the House should not be misconstrued as defeat. He also alleged that the party had written to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat seeking to prevent him from speaking.

New Delhi: A day after being removed as the Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP )’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Raghav Chadha on Friday said he had been “silenced, not defeated,” triggering a sharp exchange within the party and political reactions across the spectrum.

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Atishi questioned Chadha’s silence on what she described as “pressing national concerns.” In a video, she asked why he had not raised issues such as the alleged misuse of institutions and the ongoing LPG shortage. “Today, our nation is passing through an immense crisis… yet you are not raising any questions. Why are you seemingly afraid to speak out against it?” she said.

She alleged that Chadha had declined to support an impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner. Atishi said Chadha had “stayed away” when the party itself was going through a crisis.

“When our leader Arvind Kejriwal was arrested, we hit the streets protesting. We were arrested and thrown in police stations across the city. At that time, you went to London for an apparent eye surgery for months,”she said.

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann echoed the concerns, stating that Chadha had gone against the party line. Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Mann said that failure to speak on issues such as alleged voter list irregularities in West Bengal or to participate in opposition walkouts amounted to violating the party whip. “If he is unwilling to raise such issues, then it is breaking the party line,” Mann said, adding that disciplinary action in such cases was part of routine party functioning.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, used the spat to criticise the AAP’s functioning. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said “Dialogue and democracy within AAP have completely ended. When a senior MP is forced to use social media platforms to express his views within his own party, it reflects a deeply troubling condition,” he said.

The developments follow AAP’s decision on Thursday to replace Chadha with Ashok Kumar Mittal as the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.

Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP since April 2022, has in recent months raised issues including toll charges, food adulteration, gig workers’ rights, and pricing at airport canteens – matters that AAP leaders have termed “soft PR” issues, while accusing him of avoiding politically contentious subjects.

He is the second Rajya Sabha MP from the party, after Swati Maliwal, to face internal differences with the leadership in recent times.