New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) The rift within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came out in the open on Friday, with Raghav Chadha, party’s ‘sacked’ Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha, and party leaders including Delhi unit President Saurabh Bharadwaj engaging in an ugly war of words.

Moments after Raghav Chadha issued a video statement on Friday morning, claiming that he was being silenced for raising people’s voice, a couple of AAP leaders hit back at him, accusing the former of bowing down before the Centre and hobnobbing with those in power.

Saurabh Bharadwaj has posted a counter video statement to show Raghav Chadha the mirror and also his “fall from an exalted and highly moral space to disgrace”.

Bharadwaj and a few others, declaring them as “Kejriwal’s soldiers” also took a samosa jibe at the party’s former RS MP and said that the government of the day doesn’t care about “soft PR”.

“A small party has a limited time and it is more important to talk about larger issues of the country rather than samosas,” the Delhi AAP President said.

Bharadwaj also flagged multiple issues where Raghav Chadha, AAP MP from Punjab, was found wanting and failing to corner the government, saying that politics demands probity and courage.

The Delhi AAP President highlighted the oppression of AAP workers in Gujarat, curtailment of voting rights of people of West Bengal and asked, “why the MP didn’t raise those matter in the House?”

“When Arvind Kejriwal was illegally put behind bars, you (Raghav Chadha) had gone into hiding. Politics can’t be done by doing PR of the ruling party, rather it must be other way round, it must be done by staring in the eye,” Bharadwaj said.

Anurag Dhanda, AAP’s Media In-charge also slammed Raghav Chadha, accusing him of developing cold feet and not fighting for party’s cause.

“We are Kejriwal’s soldiers. Fearlessness is our first identity. If someone fears PM Modi, will they fight for the country?” he said.

He also questioned Raghav Chadha’s silence in the House over various matters pertaining to Gujarat and West Bengal.

“In Gujarat, our hundreds of workers have been arrested by BJP’s police — will the honorable MP say something in the House? In West Bengal, the right to vote is being snatched away. When a proposal against the CEC came up in the House, Brother Sahib refused to sign it,” Dhanda said on social media platform X, hitting out at the AAP MP Raghav Chadha, who once enjoyed Kejriwal’s full confidence.

“You hesitate to speak against Prime Minister. You hesitate to speak on the real issues of the country. The one who gets scared… ” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Raghav Chadha, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP and noted Kejriwal’s loyalist, launched a pointed attack at the party leadership, asserting that his silence must not be mistaken as defeat.

The heated rather ugly barb-trading between AAP leaders follows ‘demotion’ of Raghav Chadha and his replacement as party’s Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha by another Punjab MP Ashok Mittal.

–IANS

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