Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said he believes AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha has been “compromised,” defending the party’s decision to remove him as deputy leader in the Upper House.
Responding to questions during a press conference in Chandigarh, Mann said disciplinary action was inevitable if a member failed to adhere to the party line. “If one is not following the party whip in Parliament, one has to face action,” he said.
Mann questioned Chadha’s recent interventions, suggesting they deviated from key political issues. “If the party is raising concerns like voter disenfranchisement, fake voters, and attempts to create divisions in Punjab, but someone instead speaks about samosa prices at airports, wouldn’t you doubt whose side they are on?” he remarked, adding that he believed Chadha was “compromised.”
The remarks came a day after AAP formally wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat seeking Chadha’s removal from the deputy leader’s post. In response, Chadha posted “Silenced, not defeated” on X, asserting that he had consistently raised public issues in Parliament and questioning whether that warranted punitive action.
In a video message, Chadha warned against interpreting his silence as weakness, saying he would speak out at the right time. Meanwhile, AAP leaders intensified their attack, accusing him of avoiding criticism of PM Narendra Modi and lacking the party’s core trait of “fearlessness.”
