The ‘missing’ seven: As AAP hits the streets, most of its 10 MPs are not on the ground

SINCE THE arrest of its national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 21, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has held several protests in Delhi as well as in other parts of the country.

Most of its 10 Rajya Sabha members, however, have been conspicuous by their absence at these protests – with Sanjay Singh, Sandeep Pathak and N D Gupta the exceptions.

After the defection of its lone Lok Sabha MP, Sushil Kumar Rinku, to the BJP recently, these MPs remain the AAP’s only parliamentarians.

Asked about the “silence” of fellow AAP Rajya Sabha MPs, Sanjay Singh said Wednesday: “The party will discuss this at its own fora.”

Since he was released on bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise policy case for which Kejriwal too has been arrested, Sanjay Singh has become the face of the party protests. Pathak, the AAP’s national general secretary (organisation), is the other prominent Rajya Sabha MP part of the protests, apart from N D Gupta, who is one of the party’s senior-most MPs and its treasurer.

While Gupta is generally not active on X, he has been actively involved in the party’s affairs and was part of AAP protests at Ramlila Maidan on March 31 and at Jantar Mantar on April 7.

The Indian Express reached out to the seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs missing from the ground:

Generally a vocal leader and face of the party’s press conferences against the Modi government, Chadha, the Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, left for London last month for an eye surgery. While he was originally scheduled to return towards end-March, only his wife Parineeti Chopra, whose film Amar Singh Chamkila is coming up for its Netflix release, returned while he stayed back.

Since Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21, Chadha has routinely tweeted in support of