'Fragile facade': BJP targets Kejriwal as MP Sandeep Pathak booked post defection from AAP

Two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections although no further details have been disclosed yet.

Chandigarh/New Delhi: Punjab Police has booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently switched from AAP to the BJP with six others, sources said on Saturday.

Two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections, they said.

No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.

Pathak was among the seven Rajya Sabha MPs who had quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the BJP.

On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.

Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.

Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan later officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.

Meanwhile, the BJP on Saturday has reacted to the FIRs on Pathak, accusing AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal of indulging in vendetta politics and misusing the Punjab Police. It also alleged that law and order in the state has deteriorated.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that the police action reflects misplaced priorities.

"Punjab Police went to Pathak's residence and attempted to carry out a raid. We want to ask if the law and order situation has become so weak that the police are unable to act against drug traffickers, but are being used in this manner?" he asked reporters.

Targeting Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Trivedi said, "Those who claim to represent a new kind of politics should explain how, in their state, law and order has completely collapsed."

Referring to the opposition's allegation that Mann was under the influence of alcohol in the Punjab assembly on Friday, Trivedi said the AAP government has failed to maintain governance.

"I want to clearly say to the AAP, the Punjab government, and especially Kejriwal that this is a fragile facade," he said.

Another BJP national spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla, claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Mann has become a party to it.

"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said on X.

"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged in the post.

Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla asked, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"

He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.

"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.

He claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".

The BJP leader accused the AAP of failing to introspect.

"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.

The state party leaders have also condemned the action against Pathak.

In an X post, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar accused the AAP of double standards and said, "Those whom your leader was calling the apple of his eye just a few days ago, today, as soon as they switch parties, flaws start appearing in them. Isn't this proof of Aam Aadmi Party's double standards?"

Later, when asked about the FIRs, Jakhar said he does not have details about the cases as of now.

Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma also criticised the FIRs against Pathak and called it "political vendetta."

He too alleged that the AAP government was misusing the state police as a "political weapon."

"The registration of a non-bailable FIR against Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak in Punjab after he left AAP and joined BJP clearly shows that the police are being used as a political weapon by Kejriwal and Mann," Sharma alleged in a post in Punjabi.

"This is not just a case: This is the politics of fear, panic and revenge," he added.