‘Never outshine the master…’: Raghav Chadha’s cryptic post after AAP ousts him from Rajya Sabha

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha shared a cryptic post on Instagram after his ouster from Rajya Sabha by the party. He was replaced by Ashok Mittal over criticism that Chadha failed to raise key issues concerning Punjab in the Parliament.

In the post, Chadha can be seen reading Robert Greene’s book, ‘The 48 Laws of Power’, which he said was gifted to him this week. “Funny how timing works,” he said. 

In the post he said the timing of the gift was hard to ignore. He highlighted the name of the first chapter – Never Outshine The Master – in an apparent dig at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. “Some books arrive exactly when they are meant to,” he said. 

This comes after AAP leaders prevented Chadha, who has been raising numerous consumer and civic issues in the Parliament, from speaking at the Upper House under the party’s quota. Chadha had maintained silence on matters related to AAP, as well as kept away from several events led by Kejriwal. 

Chadha was not in the country due to medical reasons when Kejriwal was arrested in March 2024, and remained away during the former Delhi chief minister’s incarceration for 6 months. 

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AAP claimed to have been upset over Chadha’s inaction concerning Punjab’s issues. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, state AAP president Aman Arora and party leader Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said Chadha’s silence on critical issues was disappointing. They said he was elected to the Rajya Sabha by Punjab MLAs and was expected to represent the state’s concerns at the national level. 

Chadha, responding to AAP’s criticism, shared a video and said, "To my colleagues in AAP who were forced to issue videos saying that 'Raghav Chadha failed to raise Punjab's issues in Parliament', here is a small trailer – ‘picture abhi baaki hai’.” He said Punjab was not just a talking point for him but his "home, duty, soil and soul".

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The AAP leader said he goes to the Parliament to “create impact, not ruckus”. He called the party’s accusations a ‘scripted, coordinated’ campaign against him. All the lies will be unmasked, he said.

The spat between Raghav Chadha and AAP marks the second such instance involving a party MP after Swati Maliwal's public falling-out with the party leadership.