Swati Maliwal quits AAP, accuses Kejriwal of backing ‘thuggish elements’

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Friday announced her exit from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), levelling serious allegations against party chief Arvind Kejriwal, including claims of patronising “thuggish elements”, rising corruption, and incidents of harassment against women.

Her decision comes after Raghav Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha MPs decided to join the BJP.

Announcing her resignation in a post on X, Maliwal said she could no longer remain associated with the party amid what she described as a steady erosion of its founding principles.

“Seeing the unchecked corruption growing in the Aam Aadmi Party under Kejriwal ji’s patronage, incidents of harassment and assault against women, the promotion of thuggish elements, and the betrayal and looting happening with Punjab, I have decided to leave the party today,” she said.

Maliwal said she was in Itanagar for a parliamentary committee meeting and would elaborate on the issue after returning to Delhi.

In a series of strong allegations, she also claimed that she was physically assaulted during a visit to Kejriwal’s residence.

“At his residence, on his signal, I was brutally beaten and treated with utmost indecency. To protect his goon, he went to extreme lengths and rewarded him with high positions. Threats were made to ruin me, and every possible effort was made against me,” she alleged.

The former Delhi Commission for Women chief also reflected on her long association with public service, stating that she had left her job in 2006 to pursue a path of national service.

She cited her involvement in the RTI movement, the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, the formation of AAP, and her eight-year tenure at the Delhi Commission for Women as evidence of her commitment to public life.

“With great sorrow today, I must say that the principles, values, and resolve for honest politics with which we began this journey have been abandoned by Arvind Kejriwal ji and, at his behest, the entire Aam Aadmi Party,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Raghav Chadha announced the merger of two-thirds of the party’s Rajya Sabha members – 7 out of 10 – with the BJP, citing “suffocation” and lack of opportunity to serve people in the outfit that he founded with Arvind Kejriwal a decade ago.

Addressing a press conference along with AAP MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, Chadha said, “We have decided that we, the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP.”

“The AAP that I gave 15 years of my life. Now the party has stepped away from honest politics. I am the right man in the wrong party. I am moving away from the party and going close to people,” he said, adding that Rajya Sabha party colleagues like Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal are among those parting ways with the AAP.

IANS