The Opposition has since ramped up its attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after the party dropped Raghav Chadha as its Rajya Sabha deputy leader, with a few party leaders claiming that the action is one of the indicators of a greater internal divide within the party.
The decision was criticized by leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress who termed it undemocratic and a sign of centralised control. BJP leader, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri condemned the development saying it was very worrying that a senior MP was prevented to speak and this was a serious issue concerning internal democracy. He has questioned the way Arvind Kejriwal led the party, claiming that such practices are associated with authoritarian operation in the party.
The congress leader Mallu Ravi too called the move unhealthy to democratic principles and said that party differences were normal but such actions are more than normal in the political arena.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva went a step further and attributed the removal of Raghav Chadha to a purported break with Kejriwal. He asserted that the action implies that Chadha might have grown estranged to the leadership style of the party citing it to be anarchic and corrupt. Sachdeva also indicated that Chadha is not the first top leader to have reportedly been at loggerheads with the top leadership citing the previous tensions between Swati Maliwal and the leadership.
The scandal has placed an additional twist in the political story before the upcoming major events and the opposition parties have taken advantage of the situation to challenge the internal politics and leadership of AAP.