The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a major setback on Friday when seven of its Rajya Sabha members, including prominent figures Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak, defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This mass exodus has provided ammunition for opposition parties, particularly the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), who have criticized AAP's internal stability and governance. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring described the split as 'natural,' asserting that AAP lacks a solid ideological foundation. He criticized the party's governance model as based on 'sand and PR stunts.' The leader of the opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa, labeled the defections as the 'beginning of the end' for AAP in Punjab, while SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema accused the party of betraying Punjab's mandate. In response, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar welcomed the defectors, attributing their departure to AAP's poor governance and loss of public trust.