Raghav Chadha named chairman of Rajya Sabha petitions panel weeks after BJP switch

Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who recently switched from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been appointed chairman of the Rajya Sabha’s Committee on Petitions following the panel’s reconstitution.

Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan nominated 10 members to the committee with effect from May 20, according to an official notification.

"Raghav Chadha has been appointed chairman of the committee," a Rajya Sabha notification said.

Other members of the panel include Harsh Mahajan, Gulam Ali, Shambhu Sharan Patel, Mayankkumar Nayak, Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha, Jebi Mather Hisham, Subhasish Khuntia, Rwngwra Narzary and Sandosh Kumar P.

In a separate notification, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said Chairman Radhakrishnan had nominated Menaka Guruswamy to the Joint Committee on the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, on May 20.

Separately, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla nominated Arvind Sawant to the same joint committee with effect from May 21, according to a Lok Sabha notification.

Raghav Chadha, formerly a Rajya Sabha MP from AAP, joined BJP in April this year citing differences with the party leadership and alleging that the outfit had strayed from its founding principles.

His move triggered intense scrutiny online and marked another high-profile exit from the AAP.

Alongside Chadha, six other Rajya Sabha MPs, namely Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal, also quit the AAP and joined the BJP.

Explaining his decision, Chadha had said the AAP, to which he had devoted “15 years” of his youth, had “completely deviated from its principles, values and core morals” and was “no longer working for the country or in the national interest, but for personal gain.”

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