Sandeep Pathak's Defection to BJP Deepens AAP Crisis After 7 Rajya Sabha MPs Quit

NEW DELHI: When AAP announced its Rajya Sabha nominees from Punjab in 2022, the spotlight was not on Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal or cricketer Harbhajan Singh, but on the relatively unknown Sandeep Pathak. Having stayed away from public visibility since joining the party in 2016, Pathak's low profile contrasted sharply with his growing influence within AAP's core leadership. On Friday, as the defection of seven RS MPs to BJP shook the 14-year-old party, it was Pathak's exit that caused the deepest concern internally.

Party leaders said that while the departures of Raghav Chadha and Swati Maliwal — both estranged from the leadership — were anticipated, Pathak's move was unexpected. "The ED raids at Ashok Mittal's business establishments and home had prepared us for the eventuality of his departure. The other businessmen seem to have followed suit as a preemptive measure. The others, like Harbhajan, have not been very active within the party. Pathak is the outlier. He is not just another MP. He has been part of AAP's core group since at least 2018," a party functionary said.

Four of the defectors — Mittal, Harbhajan, Vikram Sahney and Rajinder Gupta — had no engagement with AAP's precursor, India Against Corruption or the party before it became a political force. Their nominations at the cost of those who were part of the anti-graft movement had sparked chatter, and many had pointed out that they were vulnerable to overtures from rivals.

Appointed national general secretary in 2022 and part of AAP's political affairs committee — the party's highest decision-making body — Pathak was widely credited as a key strategist behind the party's Punjab victory. His journey began at the Delhi Dialogue Commission with Ashish Khetan, later gaining Arvind Kejriwal's trust through electoral survey work in Punjab and Gujarat. So close was he to Kejriwal that he was among the three people allowed to meet him in jail — the other two being Sunita Kejriwal and Bibhav Kumar," a former party functionary said.

AAP sources called Pathak's pivot to the BJP a result of his father's links with the party. "His father is a party functionary in Chhattisgarh. His roots are there," sources said.