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The dramatic exit of Raghav Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has reignited a familiar political flashpoint \u2014 \u201cOperation Lotus.\u201d As the crisis deepens for the party, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has directly linked the defections to what he describes as a systematic attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to weaken opposition ranks.\u00a0<\/p>
What is \u2018Operation Lotus\u2019?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> \u201cOperation Lotus\u201d is a term used by opposition parties to allege a coordinated strategy by the BJP to bring down rival governments or weaken parties by engineering defections of elected representatives. The \u201clotus\u201d refers to the BJP\u2019s election symbol.\u00a0<\/p> Don’t miss | AAP\u2019s toughest phase: Why Raghav Chadha\u2019s exit could reshape India\u2019s youngest national party<\/strong><\/em><\/p> The phrase has been widely used in the past during political upheavals in states like Karnataka (2019), Madhya Pradesh (2020), and Maharashtra (2022), where governments collapsed following the exit of key legislators.\u00a0<\/p> While the BJP has consistently denied the existence of any such operation, opposition leaders argue that a pattern is evident whenever non-BJP governments face sudden rebellions or mass defections.\u00a0<\/p> What Kejriwal said after Chadha\u2019s exit\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> Reacting sharply to the exit of Raghav Chadha and six others, Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of executing \u201cOperation Lotus\u201d at the national level to break AAP\u2019s parliamentary presence.\u00a0<\/p> Must read |\u00a0After Raghav Chadha shock, can AAP hold its 92-MLA fortress in Punjab?<\/strong><\/em><\/p> Kejriwal claimed that AAP MPs were subjected to sustained pressure, including alleged inducements and coercive tactics, to switch sides. He framed the development as not merely a political setback but an \u201cattack on democracy,\u201d arguing that elected representatives were being \u201cpoached\u201d after voters had already given a mandate.\u00a0<\/p> He also suggested that investigative actions and political pressure were part of a broader strategy to destabilise AAP, especially as the party seeks to expand beyond Delhi and Punjab.\u00a0<\/p> AAP\u2019s broader charge\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> AAP leaders have doubled down on the \u201cOperation Lotus\u201d narrative, alleging that the BJP is targeting smaller but fast-growing parties that could challenge it in future elections. The loss of multiple Rajya Sabha MPs in one sweep, they argue, points to a coordinated effort rather than isolated decisions.\u00a0<\/p> Don’t miss |\u00a0Timeline | Why Raghav Chadha quit AAP: BJP switch stuns AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal<\/strong><\/em><\/p> The party has urged its cadre and voters to view the exits as part of a larger political design aimed at weakening opposition unity ahead of key electoral battles.\u00a0<\/p> BJP\u2019s response\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> The Bharatiya Janata Party has rejected the allegations, stating that the resignations reflect internal dissatisfaction within AAP. BJP leaders maintain that no coercion or inducement is involved and that leaders are choosing to leave voluntarily due to differences with the party\u2019s leadership.\u00a0<\/p> The Chadha-led exits mark one of the most significant blows to AAP\u2019s national ambitions in recent years. Beyond the immediate political arithmetic, the episode has revived the \u201cOperation Lotus\u201d debate \u2014 once again putting the spotlight on defections, political ethics, and the resilience of India\u2019s anti-defection framework.<\/p> <\/div> Operation Lotus, Raghav Chadha exit, AAP crisis, Arvind Kejriwal statement, BJP defection row, AAP MPs resign, Rajya Sabha exits, Indian politics, party switching controversy, political crisis India#Operation #Lotus #focus #Arvind #Kejriwal #mentioned #Raghav #Chadha #quit #AAP1777074336<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The dramatic exit of Raghav Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has reignited a familiar political flashpoint \u2014 \u201cOperation Lotus.\u201d As the crisis deepens for the party, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has directly linked the defections to what he describes as a systematic attempt by the Bharatiya Janata […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[10691,26514,26517,26522,26515,26516,10693,2981,21365,26523,26521,8781,1550,26512,26519,26520,15229,10692,26513,26518],"class_list":["post-7145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-aap","tag-aap-crisis","tag-aap-mps-resign","tag-arvind","tag-arvind-kejriwal-statement","tag-bjp-defection-row","tag-chadha","tag-focus","tag-indian-politics","tag-kejriwal","tag-lotus","tag-mentioned","tag-operation","tag-operation-lotus","tag-party-switching-controversy","tag-political-crisis-india","tag-quit","tag-raghav","tag-raghav-chadha-exit","tag-rajya-sabha-exits"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}