Ex-AAP strategist Sandeep Pathak named BJP national secretary

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday appointed Sandeep Pathak, a former backroom strategist for Arvind Kejriwal, as one of its 16 national secretaries in a team announced by party president Nitin Nabin. Pathak, a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in April 2026 along with six other MPs and joined the BJP. Livemint reports that Pathak was sidelined in AAP after the party's defeat in the Delhi assembly elections in February 2025, leading to his departure. He had earlier been AAP's national general secretary (organisation) and a key figure in the party's Punjab election sweep in 2022.

Hindustan Times notes that Pathak's elevation is significant ahead of the Punjab assembly elections next year, as he previously built AAP's organisation in the state. The BJP has also elevated former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal as national vice-president and retained Tarun Chugh as in-charge of the party's central office. These moves are part of the BJP's strategy to expand its independent base in Punjab, especially among Jat Sikh voters. Pathak, an IIT Delhi alumnus with a PhD from Cambridge, had joined AAP in 2017 and rose to become one of Kejriwal's closest aides.