Raghav Chadha has been appointed as leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Rajya Sabha, in absence of Sanjay Singh. The AAP MP is currently behind bars in the Delhi liquor policy case. In a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, the AAP party leadership has said that in the absence of Sanjay Singh, who has "health issues", Raghav Chadha will henceforth be the party's leader in the upper house.
Sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat confirmed that a letter has been received from the AAP regarding appointing Chadha as its floor leader. Chadha is one of the youngest members of Rajya Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha had on December 4 adopted by a voice vote the motion moved by BJP member GVL Narasimha Rao to end the suspension of Chadha, a member of the upper house from Punjab. The MP was held guilty by the Privileges Committee of presenting "misleading" facts to the media, and was allowed to attend the House proceedings after his suspension was withdrawn.
Chadha was under suspension since August 11 after some MPs, a majority of them from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accused him of adding their names to a motion without their consent. The motion sought constitution of a select committee to examine the contentious Delhi Services Bill.
Sanjay Singh is in judicial custody till December 21. The AAP MP had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in its money laundering probe into the Delhi excise policy case. Singh was arrested by the central probe agency on October 4. He is currently in judicial custody in Delhi's Tihar jail.
