Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s move to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has cost him a million followers on Instagram. If reports and social media are to be believed, Chadha’s Instagram followers dropped from 14.6 million to 13.2 million in just 24 hours of jumping ship.
NCP spokesperson Anish Gawande claimed on Friday that a “viral GenZ ‘unfollow’ campaign on Instagram has led to Raghav Chadha’s followers dropping by 10 lakhs in 24 hours.”
“The internet can make you a hero overnight. The internet can also bring you down to zero overnight…,” Gawande posted on X.
Unfollow season for Raghav Chadha?
Raghav Chadha’s Instagram drew attention when netizens noticed his follower count shrinking within just 24 hours of his joining the BJP.
Several comments on his posts screamed, “unfollow karo”. One user wrote, “Now 13.9M, unfollow karo.” Another said, “Gen-Z unfollowed.”
As of 7 pm on Saturday, Raghav Chadha’s follower count dropped to 13.1 million, while his following remained at 70.
He does not follow AAP national chief Arvind Kejriwal or the BJP’s Instagram handle, but follows the AAP, Congress, and BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin on the social media platform.
Raghav Chadha, six others quit AAP
In a major setback to the Aam Aadmi Party, Raghav Chadha announced on Friday that he, along with six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the party, are quitting the AAP and “merging” with the BJP.
The AAP had 10 MPs — seven from Punjab and three from Delhi — in the Rajya Sabha. Only three AAP MPs now remain in the Upper House.
Within hours of the announcement, Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi, in the presence of BJP national president Nitin Nabin.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Chadha said that Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Swati Maliwal have also joined the BJP.
The AAP, meanwhile, vowed action against the rebel MPs.
“I will submit a letter to the Hon’ble Rajya Sabha Chairman, in which a demand will be made to declare Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak disqualified from Rajya Sabha membership for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as this is tantamount to voluntarily relinquishing membership of their original party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” AAP leader Sanjay Singh posted on X on Friday.
