Where is Kejriwal's one-time blue-eyed boy?

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha appears to have been sidelined completely within the party. He has been absent from the political scene for a considerable time.

A one-time blue-eyed boy of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and the party’s face in Punjab, Chadha was missing in action during the just-concluded by-elections in Ludhiana West. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

This is not the first time that the people have noted his absence from the public eye. During the Lok Sabha elections last year, Chadha was conspicuous by his absence as he had skipped campaigning.

It was then said that he had gone to the United Kingdom for a major eye surgery. AAP leaders had then claimed that his condition was serious and there was even a possibility of blindness.

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Chadha was also not seen during the AAP's biggest crisis since its inception. That was when Kejriwal was arrested and lodged in Tihar jail in the Delhi excise policy case.

However, the AAP convenor continued to trust him and made him his constituency (New Delhi) in-charge and looked after the election management and campaigning. However, Chadha again disappeared from the political scene soon after the AAP's crushing defeat in the assembly elections in February this year. Since then, he has not been seen in any AAP programmes, triggering speculation that he had been completely sidelined in the party.

During the Punjab assembly elections in 2022, there were even reports suggesting that Chadha was dating Kejriwal's daughter. However, the reports were strongly dismissed by the two sides.

Along with Sandeep Pathak and Jarnail Singh, Chadha was involved in the party's election management in Punjab during the 2022 assembly polls. Both Pathak and Chadha were later rewarded with Rajya Sabha berths from Punjab. But that is past now. Both have been sidelined since then.