Two FIRs have been lodged against Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak in Punjab days after he left the AAP and moved to the BJP, sources told HT. While it is not yet clear why cases were registered against the legislator, government sources said they were filed under non-bailable sections.
Amid reports of an FIR on Saturday, Pathak was seen leaving his residence in Delhi. When he approached him to ask questions, the Rajya Sabha MP was seen leaving in his car.
“Punjab Police is making efforts to arrest the accused as the FIR has been registered under non-bailable sections,” government sources said.
Sandeep Pathak is among the seven Rajya Sabha MPs who recently left the AAP and joined the BJP. Other leaders who made the switch are: Raghav Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Sahni, Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Mittal.
All except Maliwal are MPs from Punjab, and their big move for the BJP reduced the AAP’s Rajya Sabha tally from 10 to three, dealing a huge blow to the party just months before elections in Punjab.
Sandeep Pathak has been closely associated with the AAP’s workings in Punjab and is even credited with guiding the party to a decisive victory over the Congress in the 2022 Assembly elections.
Politics of revenge in Punjab?
The cases against Sandeep Pathak come days after another RJD rebel leader, Rajinder Gupta, faced action in Punjab. Officials from Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) raided Trident Group’s Dhaula unit. Gupta is the founder of a major textile company.
“The team collected samples of effluents, groundwater and other relevant materials, to ensure strict compliance with environmental safety norms,” a PPCB official said, as reported earlier by HT.
The BJP has termed the move as “revenge politics” as it accused the AAP of targeting Gupta because he left the party. “PPCB’s raid on Trident reeks of political vendetta…Gupta’s only mistake is that he dared to join the BJP for the betterment of Punjab, which made him a target of the state government,” alleged Ashwani Sharma, working president of BJP in Punjab.
However, AAP denied the allegation, saying the visit of PPCB officials was part of a routine inspection.
