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‘Spices Alone Don’t Make A Sabji’: Mann Mocks Chadha’s Exit from Aam Aadmi Party
Sneha | April 25, 2026 9:41 PM CST

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday took a veiled swipe at Raghav Chadha, a day after the Rajya Sabha MP along with six others joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Without naming Chadha, Mann used a culinary analogy in a Punjabi post, saying ingredients like ginger, garlic and spices may enhance a dish together, but individually cannot constitute one — an apparent dig at the breakaway group of MPs.

"Ginger, garlic, cumin, fenugreek powder, red chili, black pepper, and coriander—these 7 things together make the vegetable taste great, but on their own, they can't become a 'vegetable'," Mann said in a post on X. 

 Raghav Chadha Leaves AAP

The exchange comes a day after Chadha announced his exit from the AAP and declared that seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, meeting the two-thirds threshold, would merge with the BJP.

At a press conference, Chadha accused the Aam Aadmi Party of straying from its founding principles and embracing corruption. “I gave 15 years of my life to the party, but it is no longer what it once stood for,” he said.

Chadha was joined by Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, and claimed support from other MPs, including Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Singh Sahney.

Reacting to the development, Arvind Kejriwal termed the move a “betrayal” of Punjab.

What Led To The Breakup?

The rift between Raghav Chadha and Aam Aadmi Party had been brewing for months, intensifying during Arvind Kejriwal’s 2024 arrest, when Chadha remained largely absent, drawing internal criticism.

Tensions peaked on April 2 when Chadha was removed as the party’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader and replaced by Ashok Mittal. Senior leaders accused him of going soft on the BJP and skipping key protests and events, while Chadha dismissed the charges as “scripted.”

From 2023, Chadha had already begun distancing himself from party affairs, coinciding with legal troubles faced by Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Though he cited medical reasons for staying abroad, his limited role in AAP’s 2025 Delhi campaign and focus on “middle-class issues” further widened the divide, culminating in his eventual exit.

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