When two-thirds of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MPs announced the merger of their legislative party with the BJP, it was not a shocking news for the top leadership of their party. Rather, he was already prepared for this shock.
But one name in that list- Sandeep Pathak Which was different from all others. Expressing his feelings on Pathak joining the saffron party, a senior AAP leader told me, ‘I had never imagined even in my dreams that Sandeep would leave AAP. Joining BJP is a distant thing.
Pathak has been one of the most vocal voices against BJP within AAP. Pathak, who by nature worked behind the scenes, had made his mark as a strict organizational person since 2022.
Sandeep Pathak knew only political strategy, and when it came to converting election plans into reality, he became very strict. He was an expert in statistics, surveys and implementation. He was once Kejriwal’s ‘Chanakya’ or AAP’s own ‘Amit Shah’.
Pathak was the most trusted person of the organization
By the beginning of 2025, AAP was dominated by Pathak. In the absence of the AAP chief due to the excise policy issue, he was playing the role of the most trusted person in the organization and handling issues like tough bargaining with the Congress for Haryana. But 2025 distanced him from the AAP chief and the party’s strategy. This was a blow from which he could not recover.
Also read: Why did AAP break? Understand Kejriwal’s problem through Sandeep Pathak, not Raghav Chadha.
Raghav Chaddha The rebellion and his joining BJP was as clear as writing on the wall. As someone who tracks AAP closely, I believed that the next chapter of the Chaddha episode would take place in August 2026. But the deal was finalized and the ‘merger’ was executed on a scorching afternoon in April, when people had least expectations of this ‘Khela’ in Delhi.
PM Modi had just finished his rally in Panihati, West Bengal and discussions had started in Delhi about the strength BJP would get in Punjab.
what happened in the last 24 hours
Sources familiar with the developments told me that one of the seven AAP MPs who joined the BJP on Friday afternoon had met a top AAP leader on April 23. The discussion went on for a long time. The source said, ‘There were clear indications of some AAP leaders planning to change sides. These MPs were part of the discussion about what could happen.
But the AAP leadership was not even aware that these MPs themselves were included in the list to join the saffron party. It is noteworthy that on April 15 Ashok Mittal ED had raided the premises of. AAP had accused Raghav Chadha of conspiring with the BJP leadership for this raid.
Vikramjit Sahni is a businessman and his change of stance did not surprise many. Especially after the Mittal-ED episode. Swati Maliwal had been adopting a rebellious attitude since the alleged slapping incident at 6 Flagstaff Road.
Harbhajan Singh did not pick up the phone
However, some efforts were made from Chandigarh’s side to have a specific leader handle the situation. Sources aware of these efforts said that several attempts were made to contact cricketer and AAP MP Harbhajan Singh. But there was no response to those calls made from Chandigarh.
Pathak’s case is troubling many within AAP. However, a senior AAP leader said, ‘His strategies were exposed during the battle for Delhi 2025. He had a habit of making big promises and not being able to fulfill them. His claims of so-called organizational expansion in Delhi were exposed when the AAP chief himself asked him tough questions.
This leader also said that for these reasons he was kept away from the decision making process during the battle of Delhi.
AAP lost veteran leaders in a month
AAP is now planning to take action against Pathak, Chadha and Ashok Mittal under the anti-defection law through its Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha ND Gupta. It is not clear whether this will yield any positive results, but what is certain is that within just 30 days, AAP has lost its national organization general secretary, Kejriwal’s favorite blue eyed boy and the deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.
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