Will check credibility 100 times: Kejriwal on Raghav Chadha, other MPs defection

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has spoken for the first time about the defection of Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and five other party MPs in the Rajya Sabha, describing it as “extremely unfortunate” and a betrayal of the party.Kejriwal said the episode was a lesson for AAP and that the party would closely scrutinise leaders before nominating them to the Upper House in the future.“From now on, before sending anyone to the Rajya Sabha, we will check a hundred times whether the person is trustworthy,” he said.Kejriwal said the MPs owed their Rajya Sabha seats to AAP but had betrayed the party that sent them there.“They were sent to the Rajya Sabha by AAP, not elected by the people. They betrayed the party; AAP did not betray anyone,” he said.Acknowledging that the episode had exposed a weakness in the party’s selection process, Kejriwal said AAP would exercise greater caution while choosing its Rajya Sabha nominees. “I agree that this is a learning experience for AAP in the Rajya Sabha. Defections do not usually happen in AAP. In the future, we will examine the credibility of leaders a hundred times,” he said.- EndsPublished By: Aprameya RaoPublished On: Sep 13, 2026 17:50 IST