On April 24, 2026, Ashok Kumar Mittal, a member of the Rajya Sabha, resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This move comes shortly after Mittal's appointment as deputy leader, a position he took over from Raghav Chadha, who was removed amid growing internal discord within AAP. Mittal, a businessman and founder of Lovely Professional University in Punjab, entered politics in 2022 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha on an AAP ticket. His departure is part of a broader trend, with several other AAP MPs, including Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, and Swati Maliwal, also resigning to join the BJP. Chadha expressed his disillusionment with AAP, stating that the party has strayed from its foundational principles and is no longer serving the public interest. This series of resignations raises concerns about the organizational stability of AAP as it faces significant internal challenges.