Team News Riveting
Chandigarh, March 21
If picking up poll strategist Sandeep Pathak for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab is any indication, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now likely to focus in Chhattisgarh after recording a resounding victory in the frontier state.
The party has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, IIT Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora for the March 31 Rajya Sabha polls.
Pathak, a native of Chhattisgarh’s Lormi city under Mungeli district, has been touted as AAP’s Chanakya responsible for the party’s spectacular win in Punjab elections in 2022. He is an IIT-Delhi Associate Professor who joined the party to realize Arvind Kejriwal’s dream of a corruption-free India. Pathak received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, U.K. in 2011.
He has been working behind the scenes for many years and built the entire organization cadre in Punjab. He has been credited for conducting accurate and scientific surveys in the state, selection of candidates, and deciding the entire strategy for the party’s thumping victory in Punjab.
Pathak has his primary education in Batha village of Lormi. He later moved to Bilaspur where he completed his post-graduation. He then left for Hyderabad and later to Britain to pursue higher education.
There was a festive mood in the village and the residence of Sandeep after he was nominated for the Rajya Sabha poll. The party has however given the signal that it wishes to expand its footprint in Chhattisgarh that will go to the polls in November 2023.
In the last election, AAP had contested in 85 constituencies but failed to make its presence. According to political pundits, the party is eyeing at the vote bank of Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that bagged seven seats, sharing about 8 per cent votes in the 2018 state polls.
After JCC founder Ajit Jogi’s demise, the party is reportedly losing its base while the results of Uttar Pradesh have put the fate of BSP at stake.
